Kathy's View of the World

2011-06-08T12:29:00.000-05:00

The Jeep Wave:
An honor bestowed upon those drivers with the superior intelligence, taste, class, and discomfort tolerance to own the ultimate vehicle - the Jeep.

The Jeep wave generally consists of either a raised hand waving or 4 fingers extended upward from the steering wheel, but may be modified to suit circumstances and locally accepted etiquette.

Examples of commonly accepted modifications:
Top off: One handed wave above windshield or outside body tub.
Top off during blizzard: Shiver and nod, hands may remain frozen to steering wheel.
Southern/rural locations: No wave, just a nod.

General Rules:
1. All Jeepers are responsible for upholding the tradition of the Wave. It seems that generally the Jeep wave is only practiced by Jeep owners driving Wranglers.
2. Do not EVER wave to Hummers, even if you know the person.

Katy enjoying the view!

Kayak kind of fits

Tex's first road trip

Dottie's sock monkey trying to hitch a ride

2010-12-07T11:40:00.016-06:00

High 5 to Home Teams

Lately I have been working on getting my arms and my head around my home team and how I spend my time.

Everybody has a home team: it’s the people you call when you get a flat tire or when something terrible happens. The friends, that knows by the sound of your voice, that you are on the verge of falling apart. It’s the people who, near or far, know everything that’s wrong with you and love you anyway.

The home team people are the ones you can text with five minute’s notice, saying I am bringing margaritas. Or the ones that bring a margarita over and put on your kitchen bar while your changing your clothes after a beating of a day. No note or words required, just a gift of friendship as we go "do life together."

There are 3 reasons why you need to know who your home team is.

1. You need to know who they are because they need you.

These are the people you visit in the hospital no matter what. These are the people whose weddings you attend, no matter how far the destination is or what terrible thing they’ve chosen for you to wear. These are the ones who tell you their secrets, who get themselves a glass of water without asking when they’re at your house. These are the people who cry when you cry. These are your people, your middle-of-the-night, no-matter-what people.

2. You need to know who your home team is, because then you know who your home team is NOT.

Everyone else is everyone else.

3. There is a totally finite amount of time and energy that each of us have to give to the people in our lives.

You can give yours to your home team. Or you can spend it haphazardly on an odd collection of people that need something from you, largely because you don’t want to say no. This is a terrible reason to be friends with someone.

The home team doesn’t last forever. It shifts sometimes as life changes every few years. But at any given moment, you have to know, who you’re responsible for when it’s all falls apart.

Trip wires - It’s so easy to give everything we have to the first one who asks, or the people who ask the most often or the people who are always in crisis. But you have to stop yourself: are they a part of the home team?

I’m easily seduced by galvanizing personalities and the idea that I can solve someone’s problem. I like solving problems, I like saving the day, and because of this, I spend too much time with "the everyone elses." I know now that this is an area of development for me.

The “home team” concept is about making sure that the people who deserve my energy and love and attention get it.

Repeat in case you need to read it again - The “home team” concept is about making sure that the people who deserve my energy, love and attention get it.

Did you get that?
The “home team” concept is about making sure that the people who deserve my energy and love and attention get it before it’s sucked up by people who are everyone else.

How to tell if someone is on your “home team” –
When they pop by, you let them walk right into your house without picking up dirty dishes or running to fix your hair.

The first step is realizing that there is in fact a limited amount of time and caring and energy. I’m generally the last one to admit this because I have a high energy level. I find myself in stressful situations because I’ve given more than I should to people who actually aren’t a part of my daily, regular world. They’re not the ones who need it.

I am thinking hard about my home team these days.............

I am getting clear on whom they are and who they’re not,
trusting that God has a plan and can take care of us all.

High 5 to my home team

2010-08-03T12:57:00.002-05:00

Contemplating Childhood Influences

My book club’s July selection was a catalyst to dig deeper into my family history. My mom was raised by a black maid in the late 1930s through 1950s. Before reading the novel “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett for the book club, I had never thought about her upbringing. Because of the book, I got a chance to learn more about my mom and her family.

Family Background:

May 21, 1937: My mom, Elydreth Lee Russo, was born May 21, 1937, in Cleveland, Ohio. The family moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, shortly thereafter. Mom grew up on Lake Aluma in Oklahoma City. She has a sister, Odilia, that is one year younger, and twin brothers, Peter and Petrina, that are 7 years younger.

Elizabeth “Lizzie” Haywood was hired by my grandparents to help run the household. Both grandparents were busy doctors, so they needed help raising four children. In contrast, Lizzie raised five children on her own.

1957: Dr. Magdeline Russo, my grandmother, had a double mastectomy.

May, 1959: Lee Russo, my mom, graduated from college and got a job in Enid, Oklahoma.

October, 1960: My Mom took my Dad home to meet her family for the first time. My Dad vividly remembers meeting my grandparents, the twins, and Lizzie. He can describe the lunch in detail. The twins were 16 years old at the time.

June, 1961: My parents married, and my mom became Elydreth Russo Horton,

February, 1963: Dr. Peter Russo, my grandfather, had a heart attack while playing golf with three other doctors and died.

May, 1974: Dr. Magdeline Russo died.

My Quandary
I wanted to know more about my mom's childhood -- specifically the relationship with the maid that raised her. I didn't understand this or have a perspective about it until I read “The Help,” which brought up many questions. So I wrote some questions to ask her and Odilia and listened as they described their upbringing.

July 25, 2010: Monday night interview with Lee Horton

1. When did you first meet Lizzie? Or what is your earliest memory of her?
Elydreth: She was always around growing up. Lizzie raised 5 kids of her own on her own.

Odilia: Lizzie was my mother’s best friend. She came about 7 a.m., driving a little farther east than we did. Her husband, Jesse, used to bring Lizzie for several years until our mom taught her how to drive (going around the lake). I was in the fourth grade when Lizzie came to work for us. I don’t know how our mom found her.

2. What chores did Lizzie do?
Elydreth: There was always someone wet and hungry. Mainly cooking, cleaning, ironing sheets, raising kids, laundry.

Odilia: Lizzie helped our mom with the cleaning, washing, ironing, and some cooking for a family of six. She spent one day a week ironing. Lizzie went home about 4 or 4:30 p.m. every day. Every Saturday afternoon, she would be sewing while mother was sitting next to her listening to an opera on the radio and following along with her libretto book. She would talk to Lizzie about the opera and what was going on. Lizzie finally divorced Jesse.

3. What was Lizzie's signature dish?
Elydreth: Soup from scratch -- not the open-the-can type like today.

Odilia: Lizzie left before dinner. Sometimes she might make a pie. Our mom taught her how to make spaghetti sauce. She taught mom how to can. When we had a cow, she helped our mom milk the cow.

4. How do you think your parents treated Lizzie?
Elydreth: Very well. She was paid for all the extra work that came up. She was treated like one of the family.

Odilia: Lizzie was our mother’s best friend. Racism wasn’t even a word in our home nor was there any discrimination. It was not an issue.

5. How would you describe Lizzie? What was her personality?
Elydreth: She was a wonderful cook Sweet, incredible. Lizzie treated us like we were her own.She was a hard worker.She had a lot of experience and common sense, not a lot of education.

Odilia: Lizzie was an average-size lady with big bosoms. One time “Mr. Onry,” Peter, was hiding under the dining room table trying to see up her dress while she was mopping. Of course she caught him, and her voice would go real high as she asked him what he was doing. He must have been 4 or 5 years old. Lizzie was very laid back. She and our mom complimented each other. Our mom was more depressed after she had breast cancer.

6. What did Lizzie teach you that you will never forget?
Elydreth: It was all by example; she didn't preach to the choir.

Odilia: Lizzie helped our mom kill centipedes, snakes, and scorpions in our basement where the clothes washer was. She would tell our mom if someone misbehaved and our mom would do her disciplining and, if it was bad enough, “Wait ‘til your father gets home.” She was the kind of person once you met her and got acquainted, you don’t see color ever again.

7. Did you have a separate bathroom for Lizzie to use?
Elydreth: No, she was treated like one of the family. I already told you that.

Odilia: –Never.

8. What did she teach you?
Elydreth: Lizzie taught me how to sew, cook -- everything.

9. What was your relationship with Lizzie?
Elydreth: Lizzie treated us like we were her own. She loved us.

10. Did you invite Lizzie to your wedding? Did she have any duties?
Elydreth: Lizzie was invited. She came to the wedding and she was a guest. Jaydene manned the punch bowl and there was not an official duty for her. Just enjoy herself.

11. Do you think racism is inherent or taught?
Elydreth: Both.Taught and observe it.

Odilia: Taught. Children see color as such. There was great prejudice in this country against Italians when our family moved to Oklahoma. In fact, our mom wanted to drop the “o” at the end of our name. In grade school, kids used to make fun of the color of my skin. Not many olive-colored skin back then. People still ask me occasionally what nationality I am. My dad would tell me to answer, “I am an American of Italian descent.” My dad was on edge as to whether he would be voted in at the country club. He loved to play golf and he had three or four fellow doctor friends who changed clubs and he wished to continue to play with them. He was accepted for a membership. I was very happy for him.

12. Do you think there are still vestiges of racism in relationships where people of color work for people that are white?
Elydreth: Yes.

13. What lines do you think we should cross to eliminate racisim?
Elydreth: Color was not an issue. Lizzie reached out to us and treated us like we were one of hers.

Summary
Sometimes in life you go down roads not knowing where they’ll lead. It's a risk to start poking around by asking questions and perhaps discovering that someone deceased might be different than you thought. I started asking my mother questions because I was curious how she felt about being raised by someone in addition to her biological mother, what she thought about civil rights, and how my grandparents felt about people of color. I didn’t have enough information about my grandparents to know whether there was a river of racism in the family.

I actually had the pleasure of meeting Lizzie in May 1974 when I was 10 years old and in the fourth grade. However, the occasion was sad in that my Grandmother Russo had just lost her long fight with cancer. I remember my cousins, my sister, and I quietly sitting on the floor in the living room where we listened to one amazing story after another told by Lizzie. She recounted stories about our Mom that were bigger than our imaginations. Lizzie was a great storyteller and kept our attention for an afternoon.

I wish at 10 years old that I was as aware of influences as I am now. I would have hugged and thanked Lizzie for everything said and unsaid, because the lessons in life that Lizzie taught my mom trickled down to me.

Life is cyclical -- one person caring for another and that person caring for another and so on. A black maid's influence on a young woman that later became a mom and thereafter influenced how she raised her own children.

Maybe I am slow and just now understand it. I know what I know and am who I am because of many influences, but it started with my mom's influence. And my mom was loved, raised, and influenced by a black maid and mother named Lizzie Haywood.

2010-05-26T10:07:00.006-05:00

Lessons learned the spring of 2010

The longer I live the more I realize that life is filled with heartfelt moments that are beyond my understanding. When I pause and reflect on the experiences from January to present, it makes me smile.

My journey began volunteering as a small group leader for confirmation because my daughter was going through the program. The role of a small group leader for confirmation is to be a mentor, an encouraging role and to create a safe place for the kids to explore their faith and share the process. The directions were simple: 1) Be open to God and 2) Purposely pray: Lord, lead me. We were to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us every day and fill our lives.

So, I took this to heart and used my blackberry calendar to remind myself to say a prayer every day for each girl in the group and my co-leader. I had never done this before and my plan was to be "intentional" and not let this slide through the cracks of work, family, sports, school, elderly care, or just life. I put a couple personal projects "on hold" and set about trying to be a good small group leader.

Lessons:

#1 You have to give yourself permission to talk about your faith with nine kids you don't know.
I grew up thinking and believing that faith was private and personal. Five years ago my thinking changed and little by little I have become more and more comfortable with discussing faith. Throughout the confirmation program I had to remind myself to be open, share and press in. There are topics that are difficult sometimes to discuss but you have to trust that you are in the right place at the right time and the conversations need to happen. Sometimes it’s as much for you to learn and grow as it is for your group.

#2 It is pretty obvious when a can of "Whoop a$% Cohesiveness" has been opened

Do I sit with my friends or my confirmation small group???

On the 4th meeting, an athlete, a cheerleader and an entrepreneur sat on the floor next to each other in the ministry center. They didn't go to school together or have anything in common but they were in the same confirmation group. They were sitting next to each other waiting for the worship music to start. This was the first sign that a can of whoop a$% cohesiveness had been opened. The formation of the confirmation group had begun. Three girls with nothing in common hanging out.

#3 There is no substitute for Spiritual Intimacy

I am not a fan of singing or singing with hand signs and hopping around. I missed whatever class that was in high school where you learn to have your feet doing one thing, arms doing another and you are singing. I am not coordinated and its tons of work to not look like spastically silly. But I sing and try my best because of two reasons – 1.) God doesn't care and 2.) the small group is watching and following your lead. If you don't sing, they don't think they have to.

One of our young ladies didn't ever sing. I couldn't figure out why with the words on the screen. I am singing and am thinking what is up with that?

There was an afternoon that we came back to the ministry center after a break out session to do some worship songs at the end. I sat down with my group because we were first ones back and I wanted to be close to them. It was important to me to be in close proximity to them. We sat down on the floor, elbow to elbow, in a dimly lit room. We started the song, "I'm here to meet with you."

I'm here to meet with you, won't you come and meet with me.
I'm here to find you, reveal yourself to me
As I wait, you make me strong
As I long, you draw me to your arms
As I stand you come and sing your praise
You come, you come and you fill this place
Won't you come, Won't you come and fill this place
The song’s beautiful words become your prayer. While we are singing this song, elbow to elbow, knee to knee, there is a unique feeling or sense that just makes you smile. You know the Holy Spirit is right there. I glance down the row and the "hold out" singer, is singing.

All you can do is smile. This moment is what I think of as a spiritual intimacy moment. You get the pleasure of observing the Holy Spirit in action.

Another powerful experience happened when we were at the retreat and each small group went through the communion ritual. Sitting down taking communion and praying as a group was something I won't soon forget. There isn't a way to describe. But I think its about sitting down together, singing and worshipping together, elbow to elbow.

#4 The signs are visible for hearts of service

Our group had to come up a mission project and one of our girls suggested visiting a nursing home. Off to the nursing home we went, split into two smaller groups set about visiting with some folks. One the way over I suggested some questions one could ask like "Where you from?" or "Where did you grow up?" and the conversation would take off from there. One resident asked the girls what their favorite verses were so each one looked theirs up and read it out loud. Well, shouted it out loud due to a hearing challenge of that particular resident. A few more folks probably heard their verses too. We met lots of folks that evoked compassion and prayers from the kids.

On the retreat, we asked the group to tell about their favorite part of confirmation, one of the young ladies said "visiting the nursing home." My point is that of the nine young ladies, one wanted to go visit a nursing home and a different young lady said it was her favorite part.

There are two young ladies that I would tag right now with having a heart for service at this early age. How wonderful is that?

#5 If you don't tell them, they won't know.

If you don't tell your small group that your relationship with Christ is the most important thing in your life, they aren't going to know.

If you don't tell your small group that your "best" days are the ones where you start with prayer and reading the bible, they aren't going to know.

If you don't tell your small group how much you enjoyed getting to know them, how blessed your life has been because of the experience, that you consider them friends, and that you love them, they aren't going to know.

In summary, I learned a few lessons that will stay with me. The time I spent being a small group leader required me to be intentional, compassionate, open and loving. I would do it again and twice on Saturday. I love every one of these young ladies.

2009-05-20T15:54:00.003-05:00

Lost

I have become dependent upon my TomTom GPS. I had David’s family saved and their locations are in the country so it was really a life saver. Then the GPS got swiped and I had to find my way to places in town and out without any help. I got lost or turned around a lot. Sections in the country look alike to me since I haven’t driven them very often. I hate getting lost as much as being late.

A GPS has become a required technology tool for me. I like to have a route laid out for me. Careful analysis of the routes and traffic are critical to commuting 25 miles each way. I like to know if there is traffic ahead and have the GPS do the heavy lifting to recalculate a new route.

There are other kinds of lost, such an the intangible “spiritually lost.” In Pioneer Club the favorite verse that all kids were taught is Psalms 109: 105 states that the Word is to be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. We have a song as well. Its important if the kids get nothing else out of the whole program that the Bible is the GPS for us. Its our flashlight at night when we are all alone and feel isolated, rejected, awkward, or sad.

Many times in my own life, when things become difficult, I realize that I have allowed myself to drift. I have lost my way and am not in the place that God has called me to be. I have put other priorities ahead of reading the Bible and meditating. It’s a constant effort for me to set my personal will aside and be a follower. I am always thankful that Jesus stands willing, with arms outstretched to welcome me back after I get lost. I find the only way I can keep from getting lost is in daily bible study of some type. The Bible is a better navigation system than my GPS and the only chance of a straight path.

Questions come to mind - are you continually reading His Word and soaking it into your heart so that you may know His will?

Are you being led by the Word?

Is your “path” being illuminated by God’s Word or are you trying to do it yourself?

2009-05-07T09:09:00.004-05:00

I survived Lent 2009

Lent is one of the coolest seasons there is in the church calendar. Yes, I am a Methodist but I spent half my life Catholic so I have an appreciation for Lent. It is all about self-examination and what we are about, who we believe Jesus is, and how we long to be more like Him. Its about giving up something and taking something on.

I decided for Lent, to give up alcohol consumption and to take on forgiveness. I learned several general things - lent is 46 days not 40, its not about making a juvenile bet, growth seems to always hurt, reflection time has been like skin being peeled off layer by layer, and losing a friend of 20 years the week of Easter stung like a bee. It reinforced the thinking that life is fragile.
~
~
Gave Up (alcohol) Lessons Learned:
- I want/like/need a glass of wine in social settings. I need the social lubricant because I am pretty quiet and social settings aren't.
- I chase numbness when life is beyond my comprehension.
- I don't let my guard down easily and a social drink has been the remedy for this
- My friends use alcohol to ease life's challenges and speed bumps
- I found 75 verses related to alcohol in the Bible
- My job is to be a good role model for my kids
- I want to be a better person today then I was yesterday. Social drinking doesn't fit into that goal.
~
~
Took On (forgiveness) Lessons Learned:
- Forgiveness is a complex topic that not many people understand.
- I wrote down 4 people that I should work on forgiving - 1. relative, 2. friend, 3. myself, and 4. coworker.
- A smart guy, Bill said that I should forgive myself first so I changed my thinking and started there.
- The challenging part was knowing if I had actually done it, all I could figure was if I didn't have an emotion about the situation.
- It's about changing your perspective. The event that you want to forgive, can't change but you can change your view about it.
- Bill reminded me of a book called "The Traveler's Gift" by Andy Andrews.

The sixth dimension for success - I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit.

I will forgive even those who do not ask for forgiveness
I will forgive those who criticize me unjustly
I will forgive myself
I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit

It was the most developmental Lent I have ever had, wouldn't have changed a thing.
We are capable of change,
Kathy

2009-03-12T04:35:00.000-05:00

Things I was smart enough not to give up for Lent

- Pranks or kidding around

- My blackberry

- Cheerleading a beat down tired team

- Wearing a lucky blue shirt if I am "selling in" something at the office.

- Text messaging my friends (DM's suggestion)

- Listening to music when running

- Pioneer Club

- Time with inner circle friends

- David's favorite day of the week - Naked Tuesday

- Randy Wayne White books

- Indian food

- Being stubborn - according to Bill and Tony, this might be hard to do. Geez

- Coffee, I have gone without coffee two different times, 21 months for each one so I have done this before during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Not going to ever do this again. :)

2009-01-27T15:16:00.015-06:00

Time, sitting by Time, Time standing still, all depends on your perspective

I do some of my best writing while watching Maranda swim. My blackberry Bold can barely keep up. :)

Questions for you -
What is your relationship to time?
Do you have enough time?

My parents wanted to teach me "responsibility" when growing up. At 16 they gave me a car, checking account and Visa. And a cell phone too. It was the size of a brick and I was forbidden to use it but I had one............West Texas......yahoo!!!!

My first experience with "time" was at the age of 17, Junior in high school. I encountered extreme disgust with "time" every Friday and Saturday evening at 11:00pm. The amount of time I was paroled was not enough. Eleven pm was my curfew and it just sucked.

My Dad came up with this one. At 11:00pm, a small, travel, battery powered alarm would go off if I had not gotten home to turn it off. My parents were not going to get up out of bed to check and see I was in my bed.

How to stretch "time"? became my obsession and I thought of nothing else. Surely I could find a short cut to this ridiculous problem and spend more time with my friends. I was taking honors physics for gosh sakes. Strategizing and problem solving began with a vengeance.

I came up with a plan, or found a design failure with Dad's plan. My Dad watched the news, let dogs out and went to bed. So, I set the alarm clock to 10:35 and then took the battery out. I successfully stopped "time" on the parents grid and expanded my own grid. I tested my theory and didn't come home until way after midnight the first chance I could. It was the single best night of my Junior year. It was all dead still on the quiet street of Robin Road in a sleepy town called Abilene. I successfully stretched "time".

"Stretching time" or removing the clock's power source went on until I got an early admission to a 9 hour summer honors program at OSU in January of my Senior year. I was set for the big "time" circus with no travel alarm clocks.

In January, I started coming home at 10:45 and forgetting to turn the damn thing off on purpose. I let the alarm be the "time keeper" and wake the parents up while I was nice and snug in my bed. I still bust out laughing now about it. The parents would eventually, storm in my room upset. Ha ha ha It was entertaining to get in trouble while doing nothing wrong. Yap yap yap you woke us up...yap yap yap...I only had one response "I don't know why you don't trust me? Why are we still using the alarm clock after all this time?"

Back to the question - what is your relationship to time?

My relationship today with time is directly proportionate to the decisions I make. If I forget my priorities, I make the wrong decisions about "time" and that cascades into intimacy issues with God and others.

What are your priorities?
If you don't have a set of top 3 priorities, how do you manage your time?

My priorities get upside down all the time. For most of my career my priorities had my employer in a much higher position than it should have been. One job, I loved the people I managed, the work was an adrenaline rush, and I loved everything about this high performing team. The best group I ever worked with I think of affectionately as the "broken glass" group. Once a year we all get together and its good to be with people that you have sweat, cried and fought hard with and for. We get together for birthday lunches in between and I hug these guys without any reservations. This group is special because there isn't one team mate that I wouldn't rip off my socks and walk on broken glass for. I am already barefoot waiting.....

I invest time in mentoring both directions. The return is so high whichever end it is. Growth and development of my spirit refreshes me. As much as I get I try and return. I am suppose to be helping others or I am just taking up space. I work at balance now between husband, kid #1, and kid#2. Except on weeks of travel and that week is an outlyer. If I don't prioritize my goals, then I don't manage time right. If I don't manage time right, I end up with intimacy issues with either God or DM. It's a linear chain reaction of the worse kind.

Rules for me so I can make new mistakes:

1. Spend time first with the most important priority. It's the single most important thing the whole day.

2. Never never ever say "yes" to a second class during a semester for the dean. It can't be juggled and what fell out last semester was date night. I gave time to a class and it came out of my time for DM. It wasn't a conscious choice, it just was what gave when time wouldn't stretch. (Charlene doesn't really have a red bat phone to God. Don't tell her I said that.)

3. Actively find a babysitter that has a clue and thinks "boys are bad" and doesn't date. Book her months in advance so date nights don't get shelved.

4. Every once in awhile, I track my time from wake up to going to bed. I need a month to get a good picture due to travel. Mathematically I can tell what I am spending my time on. Then match with what my priorities are. Adjust and correct and try try try again.

Whistle blew, swim practice is over,

my next 15 minutes are booked

(encouraging our little fish in the family)

What is your relationship to time?

Kathy

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

2009-01-05T11:32:00.011-06:00

Gaps in 2008

I started my thinking on 2009 improvements based on what didn't work or were gaps in 2008. There are areas that I need to turn up more and other areas I need to turn down. I am striving to make new mistakes every year not the same ones over and over. :)

Gaps that I recognized:

1. Women's bible study concluding in May of 2008 and I didn't go looking for another one. I miss it and more importantly I need it.

2. Spent alot of time "planning" or thinking "forward" with elderly parents thus was not in the present as much as I should have been.

3. I didn't run as much as I should have

4. Let moments where I should have reach out and pulled a friend in go more than I should have. There were just a few but 1 is too many.

5. Priorities got upside down alot - code name: Backbay and DBU

New Thinking for 2009, ways to fill the gaps from 2008

1. Manage priorities better - faith, family, then everything else

2. Be present - (not obsess about past or future events.)
3. Hug more - (its about the hug you give than the hug you receive)
4. Run every other day - (even if it means using the treadmill due to weather and feeling like a hamster!!)
5. Write more……can my friends handle this??? :)

I am interested in what yours are so please "add a comment" or ping me an email.

May great things happen to you and 2009 be the best year ever!!!

Kathy

2009-01-03T21:53:00.008-06:00

Candles in the dark

Through DBU, I have met so many incredible "influencers" as I call them. The list of influencers is long and I treasure each of those connections. “Influencers” start out as students but after the grades are in, the relationships flip flop. Alot of the people I meet just need a little encouragement and confidence. It's such a simple thing to do for someone else. Going back to school at any age above 20 is hard. I admire those students that come back to college to finish what they started many years ago. It's 100 times harder and I wouldn't know that if I hadn't done grad school at night for 4 years.

The relationships with influencers build out over time and coffee, lunch, patios, email, text messages or whatever. It is then I start to learn from them, if I haven’t already been during the class. I have learned a lot from students by observing discussions on topics of integrity, humility, empathy, compassion and forgiveness.

This past semester, on Monday nights, I met 6 amazing students now “influencers”. There is something special about each of their spirits and I can’t put my finger on it but there is a reason why our paths crossed. I have figured 2 of the 6 out as far why our paths crossed. I am lucky, I have lots of “influencer” experiences and stories that make me smile and warm my heart.

One "influencer", from a March mini-term class 2 years ago, asked me to have lunch this week. She had read the prior post on hugging. In her email she mentioned "I read your last post , You are too hard on yourself. Oh and get ready, I am going to hug you at lunch."

And she DID!

It was an extremely long hug too………. long enough to draw eyes of strangers in Diego's.

I am a better person for that relationship and her Christian influence on me. It has become more important to me to have friends of faith in the past few years. I am gravitating more to them than ever before. It’s helpful to my head and heart along this very twisty journey that includes elderly care.

And then there is this one “influencer” that tells me that she prays for me. Out of the blue and for no reason. There is not a better feeling in life. It makes me smile ear to ear to know that someone out there on this huge planet full of chaos is praying for me. I do a lot of stupid things and they seem to always involve a power tool. Not today though, I used a rototiller to rebuild a flower bed and only ended up with bruises not stitches so there DM. :)

Recently, I had to write a document that was really out of my comfort zone. I think actions speak louder than words spoken or written so it was overwhelmingly hard. I shared my challenge with an influencer that has an amazing grasp on compassion. That story is a great one but back to this one. She had to write something similar and made one suggestion. It made all the difference and I was able to take the advice and knock it out. A subtle nudge was all I needed, not someone shouting in my ear. I sent her a copy of the document and result is that it drew us closer. The whole experience deepened the relationship.

I got an email from another influencer last night telling me that she was graduating in the spring. She is a VP at a major firm and finishing what she started this spring. I am so proud of her. Single parent of 2 finishing what she started. It doesn't get any better than that.

A standing O for the candles in the dark, or my influencers. God bless you always.
Kathy

2009-01-01T17:35:00.011-06:00

New brand for wine labels are lauched!!!

Bill Blaydes is the creative talent behind me in the past but now right up front.

Thanks to Bill for taking a squirrely idea of mine and always making it better.

FRONT:

BACK:

Brand attributes of fun, unconvential, about the experience

The “inner circle” idea is that its a wine that is made to be shared with friends. Ripples represent the networking of 1 drop or person.

If you get a bottle with this label from me, I will be acknowledging you as a friend – a member of my inner circle.

Thanks to Bill and Tony for their creative support.

Yes, I know that Naked Bastard, DM's brand, is superior. I blame Bill for that!

Kathy

2008-12-24T08:42:00.003-06:00

Things that make me feel good!!!

My favorite things are my white Cowboys visor, orange journal and my IPOD.
-Visor will never be too dirty or worn out to wear. It shields my eyes and just feels good.
-My journal is where I write all the random things zipping in my head. Its my form of liguid therapy. If I can make light of something, I am coping.
-IPOD - David bought me a 160 gig one for the trip to Europe. It’s almost full of stuff. I call it his as I don’t know how to load stuff on there and don’t care.

The three least favorite items on vacation (nontechnology as we call them) are cell phone, blackberry from office and laptop. I want all communication to be with the people I am with. I don’t care about anything else. It is work to be present and engaged in the lives of those that are closest to you with such distractions as Facebook, email and tv.

I put birthday cards in my wood window slats in the kitchen above the sink. I am going to keep them there until February because it feels good. Someone took the time to select, write and post a birthday card to me so I would know they cared. I am keeping the cards up because again, the theme of this post seems to be because it makes me feel good.

For the past 6 months I have had a lot of thoughts about hugging and my dislike or inhibition related to hugging people. The topic has been like puzzle pieces that were thrown into a wind storm. One piece the dog just ate and will end up in the yard, another one under the couch, some ended up in the toilet to keep the Polly Pocket company in there, and just randomly lying about. It seems like a simple topic to figure out but it’s been a mind buster for me. I don't hug people when I sense I should and I can't explain it. Seems pretty weak. I think about it and decide "not to" almost all the time.

I have to almost work myself into such a thing by thinking about it a few hours ahead. Is this a potential hugging situation? am I comfortable with that? how is this going to work? At this moment I am uncomfortable with not having the skills or am just selfish, I don’t know which.

Below the water line……..the most meaningful hugs for me.
*David, funeral of my Grandma Thelma in 1992, whole event ripped my heart out and David was there with hugs after buying all the pink carnations in South Kansas. It's kind of funny now but he is my better half.
*David, after the wedding ceremony and we were just outside the church was great.
*My Dad hugged me after MBA graduation and told me he was proud of me. Dad isn’t much of a hugger.
*Hugging Dave, after every trip either of us takes. It’s like gasoline for my heart, I need it..
*Heidi, neighbor, when we had to put Milo down. She isn’t much of a hugger either but I must have been pretty pathetic.
*Maria, July when grief and alcohol were far from moderation, she made sure I was ok and I am a better person for that conversation and series of hugs.
*Every time I see Dr. Conner, she believes in me and I would hate to ever let her down.
*Katy – every morning and evening, that girl is so in touch with her feelings. I wish I could be like her.
*Bill, every time I see him, I made so many mistakes when I was his boss, the list is long but he cares about me and a hug from a hot fella I am not turning down (don’t tell DM)
* Tony, a 1000 hugs over the years, but the most important one this year was the day of DM Bentonville drama, where I would I be without his friendship and support? Lost

* I called my neighbor, Heidi, to let her know I was really late for the birthday party and her son Josh answered the phone first and yelled at a sibling while on the phone. I get home and Josh is at my front door. I walk up to talk to him and he is apologizing profusely and in a state of duress. He is flipping out. His Dad really disciplined him. I calmed him down and told him I knew he wasn't talking to me. Anyway he started to cry as he turned to walk away. It is so not in my nature but I caught up to him and pulled him to me for a hug. Poor little guy. I told him he could hang out with me for a minute, maybe get a soda….When the situation is dire, I can be the person I should be all the time.

* Recently during a final exam at DBU, JD, good looking young man, turned in his test then came around the desk and gave me a hug. I am still shocked. Who hugs professors?
A very self confident kid, who has since sent me a Facebook invite, emails and is going to come hang out with his group that worked on cases together from the class. We are kicking around a fajitas/poker night. The relationship is being built out and I am not the initiator of the hug or the contact. He is a great kid and there is something very special about him from all the discussions in class he participated in.

Taking off the gloves …… I am never the one to give adult friends a hug first especially guys. Out of respect for David, I just steer clear and don’t do it.

One night we were at Wanda & Mark’s for dinner and at the end of the night we went to leave. Wanda gave me a big hug and I was just taken aback. I returned very little. She called me on it immediately that I had given her a "fake" hug. She was not happy with me. I didn't really know what that meant until recently when someone gave me a "fake" hug.
I built up my courage, knew I wanted to wish them well, and for them to know I cared about them, stepped up and initiated the hug and got a “fake” hug in return. Fake hugs make me feel like a jerk. I am not sure how I will respond the next time it happens, I have a few weeks.

Inner circle of huggers …… I think maybe it’s safer that we all have our list of people that care about us and display it with a hug. There is never a chance of fake hug from them and you are never at risk of being rejected. For those that are unknown or new to the relationship thing with me should be put on a probation period. One fake hug and you are bounced. You get a handshake if that, maybe just a nod and a Hey. All kinds of rejection, high school dating rings a bell. Employment interviewing rejection is another but why is there is such risk of rejection for a short hug?

Sure things…… yes woman have them too they are usually in the form of chocolate or are in a wine bottle but I am referring to hugs. Charlie C. first boss at FX, every time I see him I am going to get a love you hug that is second to none. It freaked me out when I worked for him but I always knew where I stood. I slowly came around and look forward to the hugs. I needed the reconnection.

I am traveling for business with my mentor, HGB, and I know when we meet up in Boston on the 13th, I am going to get a miss you come here hug from her that is not half in or fake. The affection is mutual and the hugs not one sided.

I aspire to become comfortable with hugging now and never be a "fake" hugger. I would hate for someone to blog about my lack of sensitivity or affection. I love my friends and am thankful for each one that challenges my thinking, makes me laugh, hangs out when grief is overwhelming, or just reads my body language or tone of voice and reaches out and pulls me in.

For me, 2009, is the year of pulling people in for a hug. It won't be comfortable because there will be a fake hug or two but for a brief moment, what is conveyed to them is so much more than the risk of rejection. People need to know they matter to me on a primal level without a word being spoken.

2008-12-23T09:35:00.001-06:00

Psalm 23 (For the Workplace)

The Lord is my real boss, and I shall not want.
He gives me peace, when chaos is all around me.
He gently reminds me to pray and do all things without murmuring and complaining.
He reminds me that He is my source and not my job.

He restores my sanity every day and guides my decisions that I might honor Him in all that I do. Even though I face absurd amounts of e-mails, system crashes, unrealistic deadlines, budget cutbacks, gossiping co-workers , discriminating supervisors and an aging body that doesn't cooperate every morning, I still will not stop--- for He is with me!
His presence, His peace, and His power will see me through.

He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me.
He claims me as His own, even when the company threatens to let me go.
His Faithfulness and love is better than any bonus check.
His retirement plan beats any 401k there is!

When it's all said and done, I'll be working for Him a whole lot longer and for that.

Author unknown - share all you want!!!

2008-12-22T10:14:00.001-06:00

Smoke Signals to Cell phones

When I was in the 4th grade, we had slam books. These were spiral notebooks that had 1 question per page. You wrote your answer on each page with a number. Then at the end of the slam book, you wrote your name next to the number. I always liked #7 myself. These silly slam books were ways to get to know each other better with questions like:
what is your favorite ice cream? movie? food? color? and the best question of all who do you like?

It seems like modern day slam books have been replaced by text messaging or facebook.

Get to know you questions like....

A. When did you start playing sports?

B. Describe your best birthday

C. Describe best friend from HS

D. Favorite food?

E. Favorite snack?

F. Most influential Christian leader?

G. Favorite book

H. Most uncomfortable situation?

I. Most comfortable situation?

J. Favorite Starbucks drink/food?

K. Favorite cologne on fellas

Recently I was asked a set of much more challenging questions by someone very young that I don't know at all. Cuts through all the junk and gets to the heart of a person. (these were questions on the way to the airport, 30 minutes time)

1. What was the turning point in your life that made your faith real?
2. Life verse?

3. One question you would ask God about the future?
4. What areas do you feel the Lord working on in your life?/ areas He is convicting you?

5. Most difficult thing about knowing God/having a relationship with Him?

Of course, I had to drag Dave into my thinking on answering these questions. We had a good conversation about these. He thought the questions were from a Religion class final exam and not original but if you know the source, they are very original.

The 3rd one is a great question - My thoughts on this one are listed in order of importance to me

a. Will my life (experience,relationships and service) meet His expectations? will it be good enough?

b. Will my family (children & parents) have a full understanding of my love for them?

Selfish ones -

c. Will I be the 3rd generation in my family to get breast cancer?

d. What will I be known for at the end of my life?

I was thinking about how I go about building relationships out and they don't involve facebook, list of questions, or text messaging. I like one on one dialogue where I can learn the body language and learn the nonverbal queues that are 100x more valuable than the verbal ones. I guess I am old school that a connection has a voice or a body on the other end not a piece of plastic in the form of a blackberry. Listening is tough when you are only seeing a written cryptic text message from someone that you don't know at all.

There is nothing that bonds you like fun and laughter. Or anything more satisfying than relationships that inspire, encourage and care. I like to use "going off the grid" in my facebook status updates to set the expectations that I may be slow to respond. A cousin, sent me a scathing note after seeing my Thanksgiving status of "going off the grid." She stated that I was one of the few family members she had and that I wasn't allowed off any grid. Whatever I was running from didn't include her. Thus, I could take the grid and put it up my @#$ that we were connected and thats that."

"Relationships" with people, female, male, young, old, deep, or shallow aren't like light switches you can flip on and off.

They are blessings from God and should be treated that way.

Thats how I see it,

Kathy

2008-11-28T11:00:00.000-06:00

This Fall started out with a trip to Europe for some Dave time. My trip can be summarized into visiting 14th-15th century churches, lighting candles and saying prayers. Dave worked during the day and I had the flexibility to shop, drink coffee and read, or sight see. I spent alot of time seeking out incredibly old churches. Places where people had been coming to pray for an amazing amount of time. I lit lots of candles and said prayers for friends and at the end a prayer for direction career wise. I hit the 2 year mark at FX and was ready for more responsibility. I am making plans and God is laughing hard I am sure.

Not too long after getting home I got a call from Company X. The internal HR recruiter had found my profile on LinkedIn. I was not excited about the location at all and didn't return calls very timely or give it much thought. Somehow the dialogue kept moving forward. I got through the Human resource jungle and talked to the hiring manager. I only talked to him for an hour but I was impressed. He invited me to come in for dinner and the next day to meet folks.

Ignoring all rational thoughts to run, I kept putting the job/relo mess back in God's lap. I flew up and had dinner, spent the day with folks, got the city tour and was excited by the time I got back to Dallas. I was not excited about trying to sell a house in this market. Great job, boss, company and a team that I could develop and further create seemed like a good thing but I was NOT getting excited and falling in love with Company X. The decision was God's so I put it at his feet.

I had been focusing on the potential boss questions. Really sharpening the list - get to the heart of this guy. First gut reaction was very positive. If you have read BLINK, this is a very good thing.

Kathy's Potential Boss Questions:
A. One word to describe the culture?
B. What are 3 things you could teach me?
C. What are three things you are proud of?
D. What are your weaknesses?
E. What is the highlight of your job?
F. What are your career goals?
G. Did you play or participate in any organized activities while growing up? If yes, what?

I am really homing in on the question of the potential boss playing organized sports or band or something. Is this person a selfish jerk and is it all about them? (Know any of these) I am done with those types if I can avoid them.

The day before Thanksgiving I stopped by Lifeway bookstore to pick up some books for the girls for Christmas. By accident found a new independent bible study by Max Lucado on Ephesians. I have a friend that had just taken a test on Ephesians for a college class and I saw this book and thought it made sense. Figured I better read up on a few things, Ephesians being one of them.

There is a section in the first chapter -
"We experience "belonging" in many temporary, shallow ways in modern life; playing on a sports team, a corporate community at work, joining exercise clubs, country clubs, books clubs and service clubs. The attraction of these connections illustrates how badly we long to belong. What these earth-based groups offer in part, God our Father offers in whole. We long to belong because we were designed to belong. Until we know to WHOM we belong, life will always lack a sense of ultimate purpose and direction. In Christ we can experience true belonging. Acknowledging that God has chosen us and "owns" us begins a great adventure of freedom and service for Christ."

Wow was my reaction after reading this. This book is going to hurt my head and stretch my thinking. I can tell from the first chapter. I might have to adjust my thinking in mid-flight.

Should the real question for the potential boss about his faith? where is the line with business and religion?

Is the potential boss praying, listening and obeying to God?

Is it any of my business?
Does it factor into this puzzle?

I thought it was about organized sports because 3 bossses up the chain never did anything organized especially sports. I am sensitive to those that don't understand the real living and breathing definition of team work like on a soccer field. If you don't understand that in business and in sports, team mates encourage, inspire and care about the others.

So, headcount is frozen with Company X until January so I am sitting on a big, fat, hairy 10 X 10 square of ice 3' thick. Waiting, waiting, waiting.....not stressing and absolutely staying away from Heidi's firepit. :)

In January, if Company X calls for more conversations, do I flush out the faith issue and take the consequences or play it safe?

What would you do?

2008-09-24T06:30:00.000-05:00

Background – Matchmaking is against Dave's list of rules and for the most part I try to not do this. But sometimes I say What the Kathy?

Problem – I have a single friend that needs a date but is sitting on the bench

Solution – I should start ignoring traffic rules so I can meet more cops and get their names and numbers for my friend to meet.

Data point #1
Location – The Colony

Date – September, 2008

One night, after a Thursday class, I was traveling home. It was 10pm, it was hot day, I was sweaty and hungry. I was really ready to be home but had to go from Frisco to Highland Village. It's not 10 minutes and I see flashing lights in my rear view mirror. Of course, the cops in The Colony are really picky and stop you for nothing. I start looking for a well lit place and find the Goody liquor store busy and hopping. You can never go wrong stopping at a liquor store am I wrong? I grab my license and insurance and get out of the car. We stand in the liquor store parking lot and chat enough for me to figure out this poor guy is bored. It was dark but he was a decent looking guy.

Anyway this policeman is pretty witty so I ask him if I can get his name and number for a friend of mine? and comment that my friend would eat him like a cookie, she has a great sense of humor. (I use the cookie phrase when joking around with Katy who is 4.)

The cop turns out to be married and decides to give me a "warning" for the brake light that is out. I get the brake light fixed. Life goes on.....

Data point #2

Location – Highland Village

Date – September, 2008 just a week later than data point #1

On my way home work, I get pulled over by a Highland Village policeman. The cop does this cute little pointing thing at me in the rear view mirror. It was a very dominating pointing gesture. It was very cool the way he did it. We chit chat and I give him all the standard information. I asked him if he could give me tips on the pointing thing he does as I have 2 kids. We talk traffic signs and direct pointing commands. None of it I can use on my kids. Just friendly chit chat with a cop because we have nothing else to do obviously?

The cop is very nice, cool haircut, clean cut type, tall enough for my friend I think and I figure my friend is still single so WT Kathy (WTK)? I am figuring I am getting a ticket for the registration sticker being out of date so why not get a phone number? I ask him for his name and phone number for my friend? Turns out that he is sorry, but he is married. He also decides to give me a "warning" for my registration sticker since I had paid for it but lost the sticker.

Summary thoughts……I am not a market researcher by profession but I had 9 hours in grad school. Its the crack of dawn on Wednesday so I am going to extrapolate a little here. Strap in and hang on.

Clearly 2 data points show that if you ask a cop for their name and number with the intent of introducing them to one of your friends, you are NOT getting a TICKET!!!

I think the closer is clearly "my friend would eat them like a cookie" had a lot to do with the first warning but ………………………..

Thoughts that might be rolling around in your head……..

– Who is Kathy trying to set up?

- Does this poor girl know?

- Kathy better hope Dave doesn't catch on

- If Kathy gets a live one, gives the friend the phone number and a love connection is made, who pays for the ticket?

- God I hope its not me!!!

- Which friend drank too much and told Kathy she has a thing for men in uniforms?
– Where does Kathy come up with this stuff?

WARNING:

If you are single, it could be YOU. Please Self report your preferences for the uniform thing as soon as you can via email. I hate to keep trying to get tickets if I misunderstood the uniform thing.

Laugh hard,
it will make people wonder whose blog you are reading. :)

Kathy

2008-08-16T09:21:00.000-05:00

Ode to Alabama

This summer I had the honor to meet an outstanding and talented young lady named Sarah. She is finishing her MBA in Strategic Marketing at 'Bama and was an intern for the Dallas office.

Background: The email went out on her first day to set up time with her and get to know here from the sr. mgmt team. I was knee deep in a project and was getting home late as it was. I missed my family and here was a note creating more work, stay another hour today late and go meet with an intern that is just getting started. Ha I thought. Whatever.....

Tony, my associate from Nokia and partner in crime now, met with Sarah and came back and said "You should meet with her." He went on to say good things about her and suggested I at least meet her. Where was I going to find the time for that?

So, I trust Tony and his judgment. If he thinks it's a good idea, then I should listen. So I met with her for coffee. Then we had lunch a few times, then she came over the 4th of July weekend for grilling and drinks. Tony and his girlfriend, Babette, came over that weekend as well. When Babette asked Sarah "who do you know here?" Sarah's response was "Kathy and Tony".

Off topic: I remember spending a very lonely summer at OSU when I first started and I didn't know anybody. I broke up with my boyfriend and went to an accelerated summer program at OSU. Every weekend, everyone went home since their houses were 1 hour away from Stillwater. My house was 6+ hours away and I had no interest in going there. Anybody offering a hand of friendship to me would have meant the world in the summer of 1983.

I got to know Sarah not by my plan or design but by the simple suggestion from someone that saw an opportunity and nudged me. I need a nudge every once in awhile to remember that we are here to encourage and care about each other.

The 3rd Women's Networking Party of 30 women had the goal of introducing Sarah to all the amazing talented friends. I have great friends in and outside of corporate America. I wanted to help her start her Linkedin network of folks outside the "interning" company. It's easy to help someone get started when they are just amazing to start with right? Executives from big brands that I sent a note endorsing Sarah ahead of time by saying you gotta meet Sarah, she is great. Thus another slight nudge. Just talk to her and find out for yourself. I feel pretty sure the reason our paths crossed for was the networking reason. Building a network now will make job hunting in the spring easier.

When I interviewed with Dallas Baptist for the adjunct position a few years ago, Dr. Linam the Provost, had a detailed interview list of questions. When we got to the faith section, I got dissected and I had to say I am not Baptist out loud. I felt The next thing out of my mouth was all I try to do is stay out of the way of the Holy Spirit. They hired me so Dr. Linam must believe in nudges from the Holy Spirit although most of mine feel like an Olympic bomerang in the back of my head. You know the kind that leave a bruise? Hee hee hee

Depending on your view of Christianity, you may just think like a friend of mine that I just have a sweet spot for interns. I like developing teams, people and interns. This summer getting to know Sarah reminded me of some things I had forgotten. The summer experience was a great learning for me.

BTW - I have only 1 piece of artwork from a graphic artist intern at Nokia prominently displayed in my den. I bought the piece as a way to help him get through school ($200 price tag)and its great piece of work and a constant reminder to help others out.

The mentoring relationship is such a rewarding one that if you just take the time, you will be amazed at the return. No matter which end you are on, you get so much out of it.

Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Closing thought - "Be the change you want to see in the world." Ghandi

Kathy

PS - Bill Blaydes is the most talented artist I know. I can't wait to work with him again.

2008-08-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Lifesavers

Vacation in Florida with the family was good. I took an Ipod, journal and my Cowboys visor ready for a great time. The computer and blackberry stayed at home. It was a nice unplugged vacation. I got a chance to write, read and relax. I don't think there is a problem in the world that can't be solved with sun and saltwater. You can't help but relax while floating like a bobber in the ocean. Am I wrong?

Some thoughts that I wanted to tie off.

1. Humor is a lifesaver
It's a “coping” mechanism for me and I have used humor in my blog writing to manage the pain of elderly care in my world. Blogs are public as you don’t get an email with a link to my blog by accident. It’s a closed and private list. Writing is a liquid therapy for me. If I can’t find humor in a situation, I am not coping very well. Can I convert the emotion into humor? I haven’t had any humor in June. Humor had ditched me.

I thought if I acted like a situation was a cockroach in the room and ignored it, my friends would ignore it too. Just walk around the elephant in the room. Don't ask about it.
Clearly this logic is only applicable with casual, shallow and superficial friends.
Thank God I don't have very many friends like that. :)

2. Friends can be life preservers if you let them.
I think this is my profound Ah ha for this summer. The most important question you can ask a friend is “Are you OK?” then wait... wait... wait... wait... for the response, then step in.

Why I say this - If a good friend asks “Are you ok?” more than a few times in a short amount of time, the answer is YOU AREN'T. You are showing signs of strain and stress and your friend is picking up on it. If they ask, then they are prepared for the answer. There are going to be times when you are not going to be “OK”. Your friends are your life preservers in the deep turbulent seas of life. If they throw you a line, grab it and hold on. Be thankful and say a prayer that you have people paying attention and picking up on something you might not have figured out yet.

3. Elderly care can sting like a bee.
I prefer the "taking care of business" (TCB) model or Elvis model. Did you know that Elvis had rings and jewelry made with the TCB logo and it’s the call letters of one of the aircraft at Graceland? I tend to be very "functional" or "executional" based in my dealings with the tasks required for elderly care. Plan the work and work the plan is one of my favorite sayings. I suck at the emotional side and have avoided it but am there today.

4. There are no EXEMPT Relationships from Change. (Parent/Child).
With aging, dementia, and Alzheimer's and a slew of others I can’t spell, the relationship with my Dad is changing under my feet. He has been my coach and mentor for years. The mentoring relationship has ended and its like having my heart ripped out. I didn’t know that I could experience the stages of grief without a physical loss. I have no control or influence on the relationship and am just lost at sea hanging onto my faith.

I did rekindle a prior mentoring relationship with a Exec at Nokia. She is willing, open and available to kick around important and serious topics in my head. She had an interesting perspective on trust that is included in prior post of My View, My Glimpse below. I need the influence from someone ten times smarter than I am. I do stupid things. Hee hee.

5. Nobody gets off free.
"There is no house without pain.” John Allen. A really smart guy that I learn a lot from weekly made this comment. Just one day I wish he would talk to someone else. Seriously......He hits me where I live and hide. Its very good to remember you never know what someone else is going through. Be aware and tread lightly. I believe fully we are on the planet to encourage, inspire and care for each other where we work, live and play. I believe it totally and I have really rethought my approach. I can sure ask a co-worker or friend “Are you ok?” when I sense something is up and then wait.... wait....wait.... for the response. :)

One person at the office is very buttoned up. Very formal business like and you never see any emotion. But what is seeping out of them is loneliness and sadness. Sometimes its strong enough vibe that I want to give them a small hug and that is not my gut reaction at all. It's work and its all about results and profitability. Hugging is out of scope and I am not a hugger either. Random or anonymous acts of kindness go along way. A compliment on shoes, a smile, being nice, banana in their chair anonymously (you can't help but laugh when you get a banana in your chair right?) you know what I mean?

6. Kids don't take instructions from Raccoons.
Here is a funny story just so you get a perk up before this is done. After several hours in the pool over vacation I said lets get out. Maranda said "I don't take instructions from a raccoon." Basically she wasn't ready to get out of the pool. The day before we were at Venice Beach for the day and I got sunscreen on everyone but myself. I also let one of the kids use my visor so I got a little sun on my face. Not alot but enough that Maranda thought I looked like a raccoon.
How sweet of her? Raccoon my ass! Who is she calling a coon? Calling someone a Coon Ass in South Texas is not offensive. God, I love that girl!! :)

FOOTNOTE: The picture – I took this on a boat tour from Sarasota on August 6th. The Captain told us that life preservers were stored above our heads. Sure enough, when I looked up above my head and they were there and then it dawned to look up to the heavens above.......Life is good.

My world, Happy Summer,
Kathy

2008-08-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Leaders....... who is leading you?

The project I am on is confidential, top secret and a game changer according to the SVP. It just went through a change in structure so I am now being sucked out of my functional area and now rolling up to a Officer Steering Committee with a new boss tbd. Don’t you love inheriting new bosses that are unnamed?

There were 3 options of candidates for the boss role. I feel blessed to be 1 step removed from the steering committee. That is another story in itself. Candidate 1 I know and have confidence in. She would be great and I would really enjoy it. Candidate 2 is an unknown and Candidate 3 has character issues. Candidate 3 in my opinion has issues with integrity, respect and is basically not anyone I would want to work for. Strong statement but we all know a creep when we see one. I found out of the structure change on Monday and wouldn’t find out the new boss until the end of the week at best.

Into orbit is where I went in my little head. Didn't stop and say a prayer, just got lit like a roman candle in July. The worse scenario would be working for someone that I know cheated on his last girlfriend more than once and very publicly so what a piece of work. I can’t work for a cheater is all that went through my mind, time to find another job. Cart ahead of the horse but I am off in orbit here and there is not an umbilical cord reeling me back.

After a very sleepless night, lots of tossing, lots of venting, Dave had been very quiet on this topic. I was 5 minutes away from leaving for work and putting on my shoes and asked him “Where do you fall out on this new boss deal?” Enough of me venting about it, help me problem solve.

David’s response was direct and concise. He asked me “Where is your faith?”

David is the calm influence in my world and saves me from myself. Sometimes I forget to give stuff to God and let it go. What was I thinking?

On my way to work I put in a CD and it hit me in the face again.

Time that I spend worrying is wasted.
Sometimes I just don’t take life day to day.
All I need is a little patience,
All I need is a little faith

Celia Whitaker’s album Faces of our Friends, track 9 Me of Little Faith.

So if I don’t get the message from Dave’s question and the music on the way in, I put in a Shane and Shane cd to listen to on my long commute home. The very first track has a song with these lyrics:

“All that I cling to,

I lay at your feet.

Grace is sufficient

for me.”

Follow up chapter -

I will be working for Candidate 2 sometime in September timeframe. There was not a need to worry.

Whatever you are spinning around today or in orbit over,

my question to you is very simply -

Where is your faith?

2008-07-07T21:16:00.000-05:00

My view, my glimpse, my blog

I am watching Maranda swim at practice tonight and I started to think. Since I have my Blackberry, I can write while I reflect. While I watch Maranda swim laps, my thumbs type and a story is born. Names changed to protect the innocent.

---

One night, in August of last year, I sat in a classroom at my daughters elementary school. I was sitting at my daughters desk and trying to observe everything new in the environment as well as the body and verbal language by the new teacher, Ms. F.

I was aggressively watching and listening to what was said and especially what was "unsaid."

---

It was a good orientation in that it was clear to me what the expectations from an academic perspective were. At one point when Ms. F was talking, she forgot for a moment to be guarded and the walls came down. For just a brief moment we got to see her light up with emotion and enthusiasm that the kids would get to see during the day but that as parents we were restricted from. She changed her tone of voice, enthusiasm, mannerisms, everything. You could tell she loved teaching and had a passion for it. The moment was brief, maybe 5 minutes but she let us "IN" if only for a split second. After seeing the guard down, I knew daughter #1 was good hands.

---

The more I got to know Ms. F outside the office, I got to see a little more, pixel by pixel, of an amazing woman. But I have not been let "IN" again. Once was it and by accident.

---

A similar situation in Corporate America seemed to take a parallel path. My boss, Mary Ellen, made a courageous move to have the team over for dinner and drinks. The group is primarily women, the petty kind that access your handbag, glasses, knives, lamps, dishes, furniture, net worth competitive type. I don't care where you buy your stuff from Target or Neimans.

Who cares about that?

---

The get together meant a lot to me I will be honest. It took guts to invite "office" people home. I have steered away from inviting anyone from FX over to my house. I didn't think the boss had it in her. Mary Ellen let her guard down by letting us in the front door and letting us meet her dog. By her opening her home it translated that we were making progress in relationship building. The "office kind" where the foundation is of trust and mutual respect. Where you both have each other's backs. The dinner dwindled down and there were two of us from the team and the boss. A few of us ended up outside on the patio talking and having another glass of wine.
---

On the patio, for a brief moment, I got to see a glimpse of Mary Ellen with her guard down. She let us "IN" for a moment. Sitting in a lawn chair, hanging out with her dog, having a glass of wine and the office being thousands of miles away.

---

Question - Does the guard have to be down to build the relationship out?

---

So, once again, I saw a glimpse just like with the teacher. The glimpse restores my hope and faith in mankind. I think life is all about relationships. It's important for me to understand who my boss is as a person. Without the understanding, it's just an 8 to 5 J. O. B.

---

Understanding who my boss is motivates me to work crazy unGodly hours and harvest marketing friends, and many other activities to drive results and profitability beyond the job description. Since I have this perspective about relationships, it’s important to me to be in concert with my boss. I would rather get 200% more work done which feeds my job satisfaction appetite. That's how I am wired.

---

I appreciate being let "IN" for a brief moment.

I am optimistic there will be others, but some people need time..... to validate trust.

---

I only hope and pray that my guard is down all the time to those I care about and those I love.

If you catch me behind a big moat, call me on it. Life is too short to spend too much time in a castle with moats filled with alligators..

Kathy

. . .

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

----

A friend had some really interesting thoughts on my recent blog.

I read your blog and I agree with a lot of what you had to say. I think that for trust to exist between people 2 things have to be present:

A. They have to be their authentic self

B. A level of transparency must exist

-----------------------------------

AUTHENTIC: Many mangers do not have the self confidence to be authentic at work. They have a (mis)perception that they have to appear to be almost flawless in order to gain respect and show everyone that they deserve to be the “boss”. This is especially true of Asian and Indian cultures, but also very true for loads of Americans. People seem to create an image of who they think they should be at work and then try to be that person. Usually, when a person is not being authentic, they come across as aloof or stiff. Sometimes this belief leads to managers that feel that they have to appear to be on top of everything – getting as much credit as possible for the team’s accomplishments.

They are not secure enough to see that their job is to build and enable team success. The team’s success is all that counts and they will be rewarded and the company will be rewarded if they let the team shine and give credit where it is due. The long standing belief that the boss has to keep their distance from subordinates so as to not cross boundaries between friendship and work is also something that most people seem to buy in to.

Managers seem to be scared that if they are “friends” with their team, then it will cause problems in the office. Gee, I can’t go have a drink with my team and be myself because then they will come to work and take advantage of me or have less respect for me or it will be awkward if I have to give them negative feedback.

Third issue is – the manager has the team that they manage but they are also a part of a higher level team. Some managers make the mistake of only viewing the team they manage as “their team”. In fact, the team they are a part of (their Boss’s team) is really their number 1 team and the team they manage is their #2 team. They need to make sure that they keep trust, confidentiality, etc with their #1 team too.

The best managers I have ever had were the ones that were so self confident that they were very at ease with being themselves. They were smart, capable business people that explained their weaknesses to their teams so that the team could fill in the gaps.

---

Many years ago a guy explained management to me like this: When you are an individual contributor, your span of control vs. what you can cover looks like this_________ As you move up the ladder, your span of control increases but you still only have 24 hours in a day so it starts to look like this _____ _____ _______ ______ _______ When get up even higher, not only is their not enough hours in the day, but there is no way you can possibly know everything so it looks like this__ __ __ __ __ ___ __ So your team fills all the gaps. For this to work, the manager has to fill comfortable building a team that fills the gaps and telling the team what the gaps are.

---

So, if this is the position that many managers find themselves in, the question would be – How can you help to enable them to be authentic and transparent while keeping in mind their concerns? How would you and other team members need to behave in order to build an environment where the manager feels secure enough to “let you in”? Obviously, you can only do so much. The manager has to want to open up and needs to see the rewards of doing so. My experience is that people either get it or they don’t at some point. Maybe if someone above them were to coach them, it could help but I have not seen that work too often.

---

A few things might be:

1. Don’t act too familiar in the office setting – business is business.

2. Have their back – be proactive in showing that you’ve got their back and that you recognize their contribution (they may be insecure about this) – But don’t allow anyone to shove you in a corner and take all the credit….

3. Understand the limits of what they can/should be sharing with the team. They have to put their #1 team first. So, try not to put them on the spot.

4. Go slow. Many people are just uncomfortable when an employee shows too much interest in them. A little goes a long way. Trying to get personal can seem creepy to managers that are not used to being open.

5. When the manager gives the team credit or acknowledges the team to higher ups, let them know that you appreciated it.

6. When small groups of folks from the team are going to lunch – invite the manager along. 1-on-1 lunches can be uncomfortable, but if 2 or more folks from the team are going then invite the manager too – and don’t talk shop! Make these lunch breaks a time when everyone just talks about non-work stuff. A safe place for the manager to relax and not feel guarded. When lunch is over – back to business.

---

Personally, I have always believed in just being myself – warts and all. I try to leave the bad stuff at home and bring the goods parts of me to work every day. I am way to open with my teams and, yes, it has bitten me in the ass at times. But the rewards have been worth it. The biggest mistake I have made is forgetting about my #1 team. There were times, for example, when I would speak negatively about some of Tim’s other direct reports or share some bit of information that I really should have kept to myself.

---

But overall I think the results of being truly authentic and being open/ honest to a fault are:

1. Teams that feel empowered, respected and appreciated

2. Teams that feel a greater connection to the company and it’s mission, results, etc

3. Teams that are fiercely loyal to each other – a family atmosphere where we all have each other’s back and everyone feels supported

4. A work environment that feels good – like we are all in it together and we are all contributing and growing

5. Teams that work their asses off and get results

6. Greater levels of creativity

7. A sense of security that allows people to really share their ideas because they feel so well connected and supported by their team

TRANSPARENCY: For me transparency means that you have to be willing to share what you are thinking and information about who you are. I will give an example that I heard from a guy in Europe. This manager was gay but he kept it a secret at work. In all measureable respects you would think he was a great manager. BUT every time he had a 360 degree review done, his employees, peers, etc gave him bad marks. They said he was “not connected”, they did not trust him, he thought he was superior to everyone, etc. Bottom line, no one trusted the guy! In his attempts to keep the fact that he was gay hidden, he was not sharing about his personal life, was not engaging in the usual chit chat about his weekend, etc. A peer of his that was gay, out of the closet and happened to be his new SVP confronted him. She asked if he was gay and then counseled him to come out at work. He did and after that his teams and peers loved the guy. Even if people did not guess that he was gay, they could just tell that he was hiding things about himself. He was neither authentic or transparent.

I think that to trust someone, you have to feel that you know what kind of person they are. They don’t have to be perfect, but you have to feel that you understand where they are coming from and that comes from sharing. In addition, there needs to be transparency about work related issues. For there to be trust, I need to know what my manager really thinks of my performance (good or bad), I need to have has much information as they are able to share and I should not feel like they are withholding information.

With a lack of transparency, I would be left to guess at that usually goes in a negative direction.

My 2 cents, Margaret

2008-06-21T09:42:00.000-05:00

I thought sharing an article I wrote a few years ago was worth posting. Not too much of humor right now so here's what I have to share.

Kathy

Reprint from Nokia People, Nokia's Internal Employee Magazine
8/2001, Volume 52, Page 34

Everything I know about business, started with my Dad

When I was recently promoted, my Dad asked me,"What kind of boss are you going to be?"

He went on to say that you have two choices:you can be "exploitive"or "developmental". Exploitive bosses take credit for your work, find ways to get themselves promoted, and are just looking out for themselves. Then there is the rare "developmental" bosses that come along once in a lifetime if you are lucky.

My father spent a career in various companies striving to be a "developmental" boss. He chose to help his employees achieve professional goals.He cared about his employees.

I have worked for more jerks than I have fingers."Exploitive" is a nice word for them.

I didn't know the difference until I had a "developmental" boss, Forrest, in a previous company. I spent three years working for this boss and tried to learn everything he had to teach me. He encouraged me, taught me about business, finance, politics, how to negotiate, and made me more valuable to myself and to the company. Outside of work, he helped me build a house, get married, and was gracious while I grieved through the loss of my Grandma Horton. He encouraged me to pursue my MBA to get to the next position. This self confidence power boast I brought home and shared with my husband,David. We both have our MBA's today and we owe it to Forrest for giving us the courage to begin.

I know the difference between "exploitive" and "developmental" boss. I know what actions made a difference in my world.

Today it's not fashionable for managers to invest time and effort in their employees,and that's a tragedy for all of us in the corporate world.

I have a much higher standard for a future bosses since the bar was set so high early in my career.

I am looking for a "developmental" boss. Aren't we all?

2008-04-09T09:46:00.000-05:00

Picture of my Dad with his beloved Cessna

The last 3 months have been a journey for me and my family. Yes, it’s hard to believe it has been 3 months.

I have been influenced by several things in this period of time, faith, friends and books. The influence has come in various forms, emails, calls, suggestions, suggestions that I can’t implement (that is a list you might find interesting), frozen margaritas, listening without judgment and even a chef coming over to make dinner for the herd or my 3 ring circus.

What does all this mean? I am challenged as what type of journey I signed for by having 2 elderly folks move in. I have had mixed emotions about writing since its fresh, complex, emotional at times and hard to put in perspective to folks that are at different stages in life. Also, I want to be respectful, they are my parents. There are lots of stories that I can’t share that are funny. The whole moving in thing was not part of my Dad’s plan. It’s been as big of an adjustment for them as for me. Where I thought they were “functioning wise” is quite a bit higher than the reality of the situation.

Here we go, you will feel a tug as I grab you and plunge into my inner circle. Thanks for coming with me.

Lessons Learned from the first 3 months:

1. I used to think business was about relationships but I will wordsmith that now to say “Life is about relationships”. A great support network is required as life is complex for everyone. We need friends to listen without judgment and when we are ready, help us to problem solve. If you don’t have a good support network, why not? Get out there and make friends when you don’t have a crisis going on.

2. Faith will get me through whatever life throws at me, it will get you through as well. I don’t have the market cornered on this. Over the past several weeks, I started reading the book United Methodist Beliefs by William Willimon, got a greeting card from a friend with the message inside “You are not alone”, and heard a message at church about “You are not alone.” Anything that happens in 3’s I pay attention to. Sometimes I am not real bright. I am dense in that I usually miss the signs until its compounded in 3’s. I haven’t felt alone at all. I have felt surrounded by great friends like a nice warm blanket right out of the dryer. Excerpt from the book -

“We are on a journey. Not leaving us to our own devices, Jesus comes and walks with us, reveals himself, speaks, and gives us what we need to believe. Our lives are changed as we walk with him. We journey not alone. He is undeniably present to us, though still not completely grasped by us; he is on the move and never confined by us.

3. Increased communication is a good thing. Monday and Friday mornings Maranda and I go to Starbucks before school, to keep the communication channels open. We need the one on one time alone. We used to go on just Mondays.

4. My Mom and Katy have a difficult time working together to make a salad. Each is independent and has their own ideas on how it should go. Also both are stubborn so we now have a NEW opportunity for learning “compromise.” Yeah right….

5. Grandma Cheats. Katy loves playing Candyland with my Mom but she starts out the game by saying “No cheating Grandma”. Mom’s short term memory difficulties come across as cheating to a 4 year old. Doesn’t stop the game playing, only requires Katy to remind Grandma not to cheat. : )

6. Opportunity Knocks - Maranda has had an opportunity to get to know her Grandpa better after school. I have asked her to read Grandpa the newspaper. Her 4th grade teacher clued me into Maranda writing a paper in class on fear. Her fear is that Grandpa would lose his sight. Just like a 10 year old to call out the biggest elephant that we are tripping over as adults. Kids are so smart. Dad’s eyes are not getting any better but the neuromuscular doctor is persistent. Until it gets figured out and resolved, Dad is still Finger in Eye to see.

7. Practical jokes are part of my DNA, I can’t help it. Even when they happen accidentally, I love it.

For Valentine’s Maranda gave her 4th grade teacher crabs, thus why we were at Petco. Hermit crabs that is. Texas style, the really big ones. We named them “Dick” and “Jane”. Heterosexual couple names, nothing metro or urban about these crabs. We couldn’t use any of David’s suggestion I would like to point out. We figured it would be a first for her teacher on Valentines. Heee hee to get crabs get it? … After 3 weeks, Maranda announces at dinner that “Dick Died”. Most of the adults either choked on their food or said “what?”. My Mom is hard of hearing so Maranda had to yell it several times before Mom could hear. I still think its funny. We felt compelled to replace him with a new crab named “Rosie”. The next one will be named Ellen. Are you following me here? Who said we were not progressive? Yes, we like the teacher.

Mom was with us when we went to Petco and the clerk at the counter told me I had the wrong kind of sand. I told my Mom, not to move and stay right there. I figured I had 3 minutes before she forgot what I said and ran to get the sand. When I got back to the check out, Mom was standing at the dog cookie buffet chewing on cookies. The clerk said “that she tried them all the time. “ Great to know one of the perks of working at Petco is you get all the dog cookies you can eat.

8. Normal is all about from where you are standing. One friend of mine said “I am acting like my life is “normal”.” I am not sure how to take that because I am trying to live up to the expectations I have for myself. Every situation, in which I do not live up to my own expectations, is an opportunity. I get to learn something important about myself: thoughts, actions. Of course, a frozen margarita is a great learning aid when I miss the mark.

9. Sometimes a Yank is all we need to feel secure. My Mom enjoys getting out and has gone with us to swim practice and sits in the passenger seat in front of Maranda. Mom always starts out the trip with “you are an excellent driver” and “there is a lot of traffic out”. We leave the house at 7:15am on Saturday morning so there isn’t anybody out yet. At some point on our ride Mom worries about the seatbelt and asks “Are these seat belts going to hold me?” I just say “Maranda”. Maranda leans up and give Grandma’s seat belt a YANK. Grandma feels much better after that and we move on. Hey, it’s either that or I slam on the brakes to test the seat belt and give us all whiplash.

10. Thank God Humor is hereditary. One last story on my Dad. I get up and make big breakfasts on the weekends for the family. I was cooking eggs and asked Mom how she wanted them cooked then asked Dad. He said “Over medium in the trash can”. I had to do a double take. He doesn’t like eggs, never has never will.

Quotes that have made a difference to me.

“On the journey of the self, there comes a time when we make peace with who we are, respecting our strengths and accepting our weaknesses. We cease to sit in judgment on ourselves or others and get on with life.” Lena Guyot

“Every calamity is a spur and a valuable hint.” Emerson

“Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work.”
Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott

“There are no mistakes, only lessons.” Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott , a corporate trainer, book called If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”. Helen Keller

“In the long run, we hit only what we aim at.” Thoreau

May God bless you and keep you safe on your journey;
I hope our paths cross real soon over coffee, merlot or email.

Kathy

2008-02-07T15:36:00.000-06:00

Background: My folks moved in with us on January 18th due to health reasons. The girls moved upstairs and we basically did spring cleaning in December and the holidays.

The image reminds me of their plump dog, Churchill, who would look like this if he went through our dog door. We are now 3 dogs, 2 goats, 2 kids and 2 Grandparents.

Thoughts after the first Week

1. It's alot more work to feed 6 than 4. (I can't fake dinner with corn dogs, fries or Spaghettios)

2. My folks like our big screen TV AND THEY LIKE IT LOUD!

3. Their nurse helps clean and straighten. I didn't expect that. (My bed was made really nice yesterday, totally freaked me out.)

4. The folks eat lots of fruit, nothing is going bad, it gets eaten. Costco volume of stuff finally makes sense to me. :)

5. Blaze, Mountain Cur, finally has a friend. He snapped at the kids so much they don't cuddle with him. My Mom lets him sit in her lap at night and they make quite a pair. No, we don't need anymore pets. I am hoping for attrition in the dog area.

6. The folks stay up later and sleep later. Mom enjoys reading to Katy and reading books like Harry Potter that Maranda is enjoying.

7. I pray exponentially more than before. Usually its over silly things like not losing my temper over someone turning off the crock pot that had dinner in it.

8. My women's bible study remains a top priority even after all the change. I don't have time but I am not giving it up.

9. My Dad's 25 carb snack at 9pm is critical to his blood sugar the next morning. I am reading labels looking for the number of carbs. Did you know 4 small powder donuts are 30 carbs?

10. My Mom likes the stationary bicycle in the sunroom and will ride it while my Dad reads email or surfs. I introduced him to YouTube last night. Look out!

I was planning to update my thoughts after 1 month, 2 months, and so on. I figure by the end of 6 months, I won't remember a time when the folks weren't there.

Kathy

2007-09-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

This is a picture on LBJ early one morning that I thought I would share. The sun is not clearly visible but starting to peek out and is penetrating to the eye. (Sony Cybershot).

I met a lady last spring that was just laid off from Sun after many years and she explained to me that she was not worried that God had a plan for her . She sounded self confident and assured that a job would be forthcoming. I found this an interesting perspective in the situation and have thought on this many times. We talked about bumperstickers that said "God is my co-pilot" and I have to be honest, I didn't even feel like I was in the car when I went through a similar experience. I felt like an empty coke can in the back of pickup on a gravel road.

This has been a frenetic week.
Main Entry: fre·net·ic
Pronunciation: fri-'ne-tik
Etymology: Middle English frenetik insane

As I have been going through a year of being taught humility and thankfulness, the road is not visible or understandable. As I struggle to make sense of it all, Martin Luther King Jr. said "Faith is taking the first step without seeing the whole staircase." I have had a year of not seeing the staircase or feeling its existence at times.

A world traveler friend of mine assessed my situation in a heart beat and sent me a short text message "U must b on the Potters wheel".

WHAT??

Merry go round with lunatics maybe but the Potters wheel... Huh??

She went on to say that "when the Lord starts working on us to mold us more into His image. Maybe the Lord is teaching me how to lean on Him."

Thank God for perceptive and intelligent friends.

Blessings,

Kathy

2007-09-14T16:08:00.000-05:00

We went on a family vacation in August for a week and had a really good time. I have never been on a vacation with 3 children so it was a new experience. The picture is of a very long day in the Magic Kingdom. We stayed to see the fireworks over the castle and I got to try out the video capabilities of my new Sony Cybershot. It was amazing.

No, I have only 2 girls but anyone that takes the husband and doesn't count them as a child is kidding themselves. :)

We are now in the throes of breaking in a nanny for the after school transportation, Maranda is involved in soccer, swim team, drama, 2 choirs, drawing lessons and a group at church. Her schedule requires a degree in logistics which I don't have. September is the learning curve month and it will be a development exercise for all of us. We got skateboards last weekend and all girls and I are busy trying to not break my arm or leg. Fully expect we are living on the edge as I haven't skateboarded since I was twelve.

I am busy researching the possibility of making some chariots for the goats so the girls can have races down the street. I figure I miswell go to jail for a reason. :)

Personal goal for September and this fall is to be a Mary in a Martha world. I just started a new bible study called How to have a Mary heart in a Martha world. I am learning to prioritize my bible study at the top of the list and let the other stuff fall off or down on the list. We will see how I succeed.

God bless you,

Kathy

2007-06-07T11:07:00.000-05:00

My daughter is fascinated by the HOV lane on the highway. Whenever we are going somewhere and on the highway she asks if we can use the fast lane. I try and reiterate that the lane doesn't give you authority to speed or be reckless. Its purpose is to reward commuters. The whole thought of the HOV lane and speeding causes me to think about straw and hay.

Why do we go faster than the speed limit?

I exceed the speed limit at times because I think I can handle it. The speed limit and the 10 commandments are similar. Rules to live by and rules of the road. Some folks think we can live good lives without going to church, bible study or reading our bibles.

Why do people think they are living their lives right by never going to church?

A friend, that is Hindu, told me she doesn't attend church because she knows what she needs to do and is living her life right. It's the same thing as straw for a goat. Straw is for "comfort" for goats, they lay on it. Its better than the ground. Straw has NO nutritional value at all.

Going to church is like hay for a goat. Hay is where a goat gets "nutrients" to live. Where do you "Get Fed"? A good friend of mine refers to church as a place to "Get Fed" and it is so fitting. Going to church, weekly hit of spiritual direction, reading your bible and getting into a bible study all feed your spirit and soul.

Do you want to lay on straw or do you want to get Fed? each person has to decide how much hay they want if any.

I do look for correlations to goats, I have to buy straw and hay at the Lewisville Feed Mill for my herd of 2 whethers but the feed store is another story.

Great idea for a bumpersticker "I'm going to Church to Get Fed! meet you there!"

Kathy

2007-05-28T08:52:00.000-05:00

5 minutes to Blog about Friends

The summer is here and I start writing events on the calendar for the kids or the adults, I am reminded how much it means to spend time with friends. Other people on the planet that matter to us, that need someone to listen to them or for us to be heard. I don't think you can have enough friends. I decided to make sure that I was spending enough time with friends and filled up the weekend with friends for drinks or dinner all 3 nights. Leaving Monday night to recoop.

I used to sit next to a funny lady at FX that I used to tell my South African neighbor about. And I used to tell my work neighbor about my neighbor. Like the day that my neighbor caught a possum and emailed me the picture to the office. On Friday, it worked out that my FX neighbor, Gwen, could come by for drinks. I then could invite my neighbor, Heidi, over as well. The kids were playing and staying out of trouble and all was well. There was not any screaming or blood shed and we were set to sit back.

At least until the husbands showed up and expected dinner. We had been chatting, snacking and a little drinking but we had not thought of food. I had pizza in the back of my head but didn't go pick up the phone. The guys took the kids (6 in total) over to Heidi's house and fed them and made dinner. Us 3 girls walked over there and ate then played games. We have to watch the South African's, they get out hard games when you are nice and relaxed or buzzed. You have to try real hard to keep up.

A few drinks at 5 lasted well after 1:30am and we had a good time. Gwen invited me and then I invited Heidi to come to the Lakeforest Theater for Gay Bingo in June. Heidi and I are going to go. Gwen has a large group of her friends going and we are curious what is gay bingo. But Gwen is sharing her group of friends with others. 1 have met and she is terrific.

Its funny that I know someone at work and introduce them to someone at home and all of sudden they are friends. I am seriously thinking that once a month we need to have a happy hour and invite women that I like.

Life is too short not to share friends,
Kathy

2007-05-15T15:59:00.000-05:00

Inspiring Words from Martin Luther King Jr.

America's legendary political leader, Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of great strength and wisdom.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from him.

Faith

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Leadership

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

Freedom

We will speed the day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing...

2007-05-14T13:22:00.000-05:00

Friends......

This past weekend a group of Christian women got together for brunch. I consider myself lucky to have been invited. The get together warmed my heart. I have few friends that are Christian for whatever reason. Most of my friends are from corporate America not from church.

This group I met through Dallas Baptist University one week in March in Colleyville. Sometimes you never know the reason for things but this one is crystal clear to me. A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart. Friendship and support of others on the planet on their own very unique spiritual journeys.

My cousin sent me this email, I think its great and wanted to include here so I wouldn't lose it.

Read Each One Carefully and Think About It a Second or Two

1. I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you..

2. No man or woman is worth your tears, and the one who is, won't make you cry.

3. Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

4. A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

5. The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can't have them.

6. Never frown, even when you are sad, because you never know who is falling in love with your smile.

7. To the world you may be one person, but to one person you maybe the world.

8. Don't waste your time on a man / woman, who isn't willing to waste their time on you.

9. Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one, so that when we finally meet the person, we will know how to be grateful.

10. Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened

11. There's always going to be people that hurt you so what you have to do is keep on trusting and just be more careful about who you trust next time around.

12. Make yourself a better person andknow who you are before you try and know someone else and expect them to know you.

13. Don't try so hard, the best things come when you least expect them to.

REMEMBER:WHATEVER HAPPENS, HAPPENS FOR A REASON.

Lift your coffee cup, tea glass or mug of ice cold beer in celebration of friendship. It polishes the sharp edges off of life for us.

Some of us have all right friends and good friends!!!

Kathy

2007-05-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

2007-05-04T14:22:00.000-05:00

Teacher Appreciation Month - Family Tradition

Maranda and I for the last month of school create a recognition and appreciation program for the current teacher. Each year we get better or more creative.

First grade, the first year of the program, Maranda wrote a note then we put in a bottle. We used my husbands beer bottling equipment to put a metal cap on the bottle. Most people would wait until they got home to open the bottle right? There isn't money or chocoalte in there, you can see its just a note written by a kid. First grade teacher went to get the janitor to open the bottle.

The next year, the 2nd grade teacher got a message in a bottle as well and promptly used the wine opener in her desk. She told us this herself, I am not making this up. Why would a teacher have a wine opener in their desk?

This year is off to a bang, Maranda wrote 3rd grade teacher a not telling her about the program so she would be aware and I put the premade and mixed Margarita 4 pack in a gift bag, stapled the bag shut and gave instructions to open at home. It was going just fine until someone opened their mouth. Apparently the 3rd grade teacher made the mistake of telling another teacher and the principal overheard.

Last night after a really long week I get a call from the principal telling me that Maranda can be expelled for bringing alcohol onto school property. This conversation went on for 15 minutes and I must say that graveling is quite refreshing.

I went outside to sit on the step and my husband asked what that was all about? I think he likes to hear me gravel and thats another story all together.... Anyway, I told him that I was just informed that "you can't bring alcohol onto school property." Teacher gifts or not, its wrong. He just looks at me and acts like he knew this all along.

This rule has been violated by us in the form of teacher gifts for years now. First grade teacher likes Bud Light, thus case of it iced down gift for the last day. I understand she prefers white wine now but anyway. Second grade teacher liked Merlot so my husband homebrewed Merlot wine, thus more teacher gifts.

Why all the fuss over premade ready to drink Margaritas in cute little bottles. 4 pack no less?
We dodged Maranda getting expelled a month before completing 3rd grade, that would have really pissed her off. After all the studying for those tacky spelling tests all year.

My definition of alcohol is EVERCLEAR, if you would rather drink it than put it in a watermelon, go ahead. But please don't take it to school now ya hear?

Amen

2007-03-30T13:57:00.000-05:00

Life is all about ass

You're either covering it,
Laughing it off,
Kicking it,
Kissing it,
Busting it,
Trying to get a piece of it,
Behaving like one!

Or you live with one!!!

2007-01-08T08:33:00.000-06:00

Elvis - a few facts after reading

* Elvis on his Harley, 1956

* Did you know there is a hidden tunnel on the Graceland estate that was used to smuggle slaves back in the Civil War?

* Did you know Elvis had a twin that was stillborn, buried at Graceland ?

* Did you know Elvis had a nose job ?

* Heartbreaker fact - The US Army introduced Elvis to amphetamines when he was on active duty in Germany. Drugs were given to keep soliders awake and alert.

* Did you Elvis's father, Vernon, spent time in jail in Mississippi for forgery?

* Did you know Elvis made 33 movies?

* Did you know as of January 2004, Elvis has 147 different albums and singles certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).

* Did you know Elvis has more RIAA certifications than any other artist or group?

*Elvis had 3-4 girlfriends all the time, including the time he was married. I bet Priscila appreciates one of the security guys telling this secret.

* Did you know Elvis' brain and heart are still in storage at Memphis Baptist Memorial Hospital?

Books that I have read that were very interesting.
Elvis and me by Priscilla Presley (Ex-wife)
Are you lonely tonight? by Lucy de Barbin (girlfriend that had a child of Elvis's without his knowledge)
Good rockin' tonight by Joe Esposito (Security,road manager type, the most telling about Elvis and his women)
The inner elvis by Dr. Whitmer (mumbo jumbo $5 words)
Me and a guy named Elvis by Jerry schilling (no secrets revealed in this one)
The unmaking of Elvis Presley - carless love by Peter Guralnick

2006-12-24T15:59:00.000-06:00

GOATS GONE GQ!!

The goats are sporting new turtleneck scarves handmade by Gwen, the stitch witch. Arney's in in a beautiful holiday red that brings out his native Nigerian Dwarf hues. While Momo is sporting a multicolor blend that highlights his African Pygmy coloring.

Both items were made exclusively for the Meyer Herd by Gwen, the stitch witch.

2006-12-20T09:51:00.000-06:00

BIRTHDAY GIFTS FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS IN 2007

I have decided that I will be making bedroom slippers for you all as birthday gifts in 2007 for those that forgot my birthday.

Please let me know your sizes. You'll most likely agree that this is a great idea, and should you wish to do the same for those that ditch your birthday,

I've included the instructions below.

How to make bedroom slippers out of maxi pads:

1. You need four maxi padsto make a pair.

2. Two of them get laid out flat, for the foot part.

3. The other two wrap around the toe area to form the top.

4. Tape or glue each side of the top pieces to the bottom of the foot part.

5. Decorate thetops with whatever you desire, silk flowers (this is most aesthetically appealing), etc.

These slippers:

* Are soft and hygienic

* Have non-slip grip strips on the soles

* Have a built-in deodorant feature, that keeps feet smelling fresh

* Mean no more bending over to mop up spills

* Are disposable and biodegradable

* Are environmentally safe

* Come in three convenient sizes: Regular, Light, and Get out the Sand Bags.

I've attached a photo of the first pair I made, so you can see the nifty slippers for my Mother in law.

It's crucial that I get the right size for each one of you.

ALL KIDDING ASIDE: You can attach a gift card to your slippers with these descriptions
Slippers for the descrete woman.
Soft and hygenic.
Non-slip grip strips on the soles.
Built in deodorant feature to keep feet smelling fresh.
No more bending over to mop up spills.
Disposable, biodegradable, and environmentally safe.
Comes in 3 convenient sizes: Regular, Light day, and SUPER Absorbant.

2006-12-16T12:04:00.000-06:00

It came without ribbons.

It came without tags.

It came without packages, boxes or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled, till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store?

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

- Dr. Seuss, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

2006-12-15T15:16:00.000-06:00

BIG GAME HUNTING

Squirrel hunting isn't complicated and doesn't require expensive or elaborate equipment.

Especially residential hunting where if the bastards are in your yard, you are entitled to taking them out. The experience can be enhanced with Lesbian leather boots and a little bit of camouflage. As you become more proficient and start looking for more of a challenge, a .22 rifle might be in order but don't miss in the city.

While it's always easier to learn hunting techniques from a seasoned hunter, learning to hunt squirrels can be accomplished on one's own. In my case, I am self taught with 5 kills to my name.

Squirrels are present in all the state's 88 counties. By paying attention to their habitat requirements, you can lead yourself to a successful hunt. Pre-scouting is important for almost all types of hunting. With squirrels, you are looking for mature nut trees and other areas where food for the animals will be abundant. Oaks, hickories, and beechnuts are all desirable food for squirrels so look for areas where these nuts are available, and check to see if there are "cuttings" (shell pieces that indicate squirrels have been feeding here) in the area. In drought periods, the presence of water can be important, and often the presence of a corn field along the edge of the woods becomes a real drawing card for hungry squirrels.

The two most popular techniques for hunting squirrels are "still hunting" and "stand hunting." Stand hunting involves taking a "stand" in areas where squirrels have been active, and waiting for them to show themselves. "Still" hunting involves a very slow stalk through the woods in an effort to sneak up on active or feeding squirrels.

I am told the "ideal" squirrel hunt can be had on a morning when there has been a pre-dawn rain, and very little wind. This allows the hunter to move quietly around the mature mast trees, watching and listening for squirrels.

My last kill was in December of last year and its time to reduce the neighborhood clutter. My husband bought me a new laser sight for my weapon of choice: PELLET. I look forward to putting a red dot on a few beasts over the Christmas holiday.

Happy Hunting

2006-12-07T11:05:00.000-06:00

GRACELAND

I made my first trip to Graceland in November.
Here are a few pictures.
This is the aerial view - Far lower left is the Meditation garden with Elvis grave and his folks. The large white building at the bottom center is the racquetball court turned into a costume & award showcase. The main house is at the top center.

Here is the front door of the house. The prior owners called the property Graceland before Elvis purchased the property.

When you walk into the house and are in the entry way, right above you is where Elvis past away.

This is the staircase to the upstairs that is off limits to the public. Supposidly President Clinton requested a tour of the upstairs and was denied.

I met a lady, Donna, in Memphis that had actually been upstairs in 1957. She and her friends went to see the King in the summer of 1957, she was 15 at the time. Elvis walked down to his gate and invited them in to go swimming. Back in those days, the local girls would go hang out at the gate to see if Elvis would walk down. Donna and her 2 friends swam and then went inside to change clothes. The King gave them a tour of the house and then Elvis played for them for a few hours. As the story is told, before they left, Elvis dipped each young girl over to bestow a goodnight kiss on each one. Apparently this was Donna's first french kiss. I heard this story twice while in Memphis and each time I enjoyed hearing it.

I got curious and found the blue print for the upstairs on the web.

There is a white shag round bed on display in the basement that came out of the changing room upstairs.

This is the billiards room in the basement. It has fabric on the walls and ceiling.

2006-12-07T11:02:00.000-06:00

Christmas carols which are beingplayed for the psychologically challenged this year.

1. Schizophrenia -- Do You Hear What I Hear?

2. Multilple Personality Disorder/Gender Idenity Disorder -- We ThreeQueens Disoriented Are

3. Amnesia -- I don't know if I'll be Home for Christmas

4. Narcissistic -- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

5. Manic -- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets andStores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees andFire Hydrants and ...

6. Paranoid -- Santa Claus is Coming To Get Me

7. Antisocial Personality Disorder -- Thoughts of Roasting on an OpenFire

8. Borderline Personality Disorder -- You Better Watch Out, I'm GonnaCry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I*'ll Tell You Why

9. Obsesive Compulsive Disorder -- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,

10. Agoraphobia -- I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, but I Wouldn'tLeave My House

11. Senile Dementia -- Walking in a Winter Wonderland, Miles from MyHouse in My Slippers and Robe

12. Oppositional Defiant Disorder -- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause,So I Burned Down the House (Or the Pet Store)

13. Social Anxiety Disorder -- Have Yourself a Merry Little ChristmasWhile I Sit Here and Hyperventilate

2006-08-08T12:27:00.000-05:00

Last night I was a Kolache…. In my dreams

In Troy Aikman’s Hall of Fame acceptance speech, he told this story. "A high school coach once told me, 'In life you have a lot of acquaintances but very few friends.' For most, that's probably true, but not for me. The many friendships in my life are what made me feel every single day like I'm the luckiest guy in the world, and I thank all of you for being here today."

My life has not been about professional athletics but I do have one thing in common with the great quarterback, I do feel that the friendships I have make me feel very fortunate.

I dreamed last night that I was a kolache stuck to a plate. How many friends and what kind of friends could you tell such a dream to? There are clearly the friends that would think you are crazy and thus you don’t share with, then there are the ones, rare to find, that you can say anything to and they love you none the less. Why would I dream about being a kolache?
I remember in the dream trying to lift my arm or leg and being stuck to a plate. Do I feel like I am in a situation of being trapped like the kolache is to the plate? Do I have some deep rooted sexual hang up? Do I feel trapped in my role as parent or as spouse? who knows why we dream stuff. My husband had plenty of odd things to say about this after I told him and I am thinking up a good practical joke for him now.

It's not so much the kolache that comes to mind but the aspect of friendship. Friendship is a lot of work, it doesn’t come easy. My youngest borrowed a book from my neighbor and lost it. Today I am going to buy the book and replace it because I value my neighbor’s friendship. I would never do anything to harm it.

There is one friend that I have that I see every 3-4 months and even then the conversation is shallow. I can’t really say what’s on my mind for fear of criticism. I call her my "whale" friend since she only surfaces once in a great while. She is not “available” to me as a friend to talk about the serious topics of life. At some points you have to re-evalute friendships to know which ones are worth weeding and watering.

Then I have a friend that I can say anything to or not a word and know that they are there standing by with a shovel to help bury the body. This friend has mentored me in the past when I had a large team of psycho's working for me. She always says or writes that she will pray for me. I need more friends like that. What is more valuable than having a friend pray for you?

Friendship is risky, you have no armor. It's you out there with your thoughts and feelings on the planet together with others. The alternative is to stay in your shell and shallow with those you meet. I have a few friends that I could call for bail money that wouldn’t tell my husband if the need ever arose. I can't help myself from practical jokes on my daughter's teacher. There are few friends that would bring a shovel, for the sole reason of helping me bury a body if need be.

I aspire to have as many bail money friends as shovel friends. What about you?

2006-06-06T20:40:00.000-05:00

Someone talked about my squirrel hunting. I keep circling back to the profound realization that everything is about timing.

I walked into preschool/day care today and the Director asked me “do you really hunt squirrels then make stuff out of the skin? “ I replied “No”. How rude to ask. Just for clarity, I have only killed 5 of God’s creatures and I have not made anything out of the skins YET. David just acquired the tanning supplies if he ends up with skins that need something to do, I might apply my creative thinking. It's disturbing that a non-family member knows a hobby of mine to reduce the squirrel population in my backyard.

I promptly asked my daughter “how the director would know about my hunting?" The response was classic. We played the “Tell me 1 of your Mom’s secrets game” in the van on the way back from a field trip.

Who knew there was such a game ?
Why didn’t I know about it so I could have facilitated the game every time there is a kid over to play or at the slumber party last weekend. I could have dirt on all the Mom’s of my daughter's friends by now.

I have enough scoop coming home via the 8 year filter who thinks her teacher dropped out of college and has a corkscrew in her desk. Ok, the corkscrew part is true but the other odd stuff is not. I hope what goes to school is G rated. Of course, when she gets caught using the word Jackass at school I will have a hard time explaining that is her Dad's nickname etc......

I hope there are not other derivatives of this game like "What's your Dad look like Naked?"

hee hee hee

2006-04-22T06:09:00.000-05:00

As every good tale in Texas starts out, we went to see a man about a horse.

Ok, so it wasn't a man or a horse but I always wanted to say that.

I took my Dad to Houston to see about adopting a Whippet.

My family has always been "dog" people and some of my favorite memories as a kid involve a Boston Terrier or a Pug. My parents lost their 16 year old Italian Greyhound to cancer last year. It was like losing a limb for my Dad.

My Mom has suffered a rapid decline in health this past year and is currently in an Acute care rehab center. I 'spect she will live in a medical care facility long term. Dad is going to be living alone for the first time in many years. The folks will be married 45 years in June.

It seems illogical to some degree to go OUT OF YOUR WAY, (drive to Houston from Dallas, to see a lady about a dog) to take on more responsibility. Someone else to care for. Hasn't the last 8 years been lesson after lesson in caregiving and devote attention? Doesn't my Dad have enough responsibility caring for my Mom? Why add to his responsibility scope?

Great questions -
from the cheap seats or those that don't understand the love and affection a great dog can provide.

I was lucky to be on Craigslist-Houston-Pets and stumble upon the listing for a Whippet, 2nd cousin to a Greyhound. The email dialogue began with the foster Mom. Churchill was the best match for what I was looking for. I showed Dad the picture and information on Churchill and left out the part about him being in Houston and being 8 years old. (I am in marketing, get over it; those pieces of information were not part of the selling pitch). Dad figured out the dog was in Houston and said “it was too far”. As all Texan’s know, 4 hours is nothing as long as it’s not on the back of a horse.

Something happened and it wasn’t 24 hours before we went to see a man about horse or how I like to describe what I did on Friday. Its my story so I can say that and have some latitude.

I was a chess piece this past week and I know it had nothing to do with me finding the dog or driving Dad. God is actively working in my Dad's life, there was a much bigger picture being painted and I was darn lucky to be on the sidelines.

My Dad, with God's help, are painting a picture which entails coping with his best friend and wife of 45 years is not AVAILABLE, through no choice or fault of hers. Dad now has an incredible challenge of adapting, but he is not going to do it along; he now has a new friend.

The first stop on our roadtrip home was the Rehab center to introduce Churchill to Mom. The rehab center allows dogs on leashes to visit. What a smart thinkers they are. My Dad has always loved the pets as much he did of us kids. I gained a sibling on Friday.

My sisters always used to ask my Mom for a brother when we were kids. what is that saying becareful what you ask for? hee hee hee

It is my privilege to introduce you the newest member of the family, Churchill Horton.

God is good, all the time

2006-03-09T13:19:00.000-06:00

We lost our 2 long time companions in 2005 within 3 weeks of each other. Milo we lost to lymphatic carcinoma and Bosco to a heart attack.

Here are the garden gravestones for each. Milo's stone had a nature made vase.

Bosco's stone resembles the Halloween pumpkin we carved like this.

Prayer by Lee Jarrell, Spiritual Director, Trietsch UMC

Sweet heavenly Father,

We bless you and thank you for giving us Milo and Bosco. They loved us. We loved them.

We wanted them to live longer. And now we are sad that they are dead.

We ask you God to help us in our sadness. Help us to celebrate and laugh at our favorite Milo & Bosco stories. Help us to remember our pets for as long as we live.

We leave their bodies and souls in your capable hands.

Thank you that you will continue to care for Bosco and Milo every day.

We carry with us their precious memories, forever.

Father, thank you for your everlasting mercy and love.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.

2006-03-09T13:15:00.000-06:00

Northern Illinois University garden stone for a friend of mine that surprises me with support.

2006-03-06T10:08:00.000-06:00

The Hormone Hostage knows that there are days in the month when all a man has to do is open his mouth and he takes his very life into his own hands!

This is a handy guide that should be as common as a driver's license in the wallet of every husband, boyfriend, or significant other!!

DANGEROUS: What's for dinner?
SAFER: Can I help you with dinner?
SAFEST: Where would you like to go for dinner?
ULTRASAFE: Here, have some chocolate.

DANGEROUS: Are you wearing that?
SAFER: Gee, you look good in brown.
SAFEST: WOW! Look at you!
ULTRASAFE: Here, have some chocolate.

DANGEROUS: What are you so worked up about?
SAFER: What did I do wrong?
SAFEST: Here's fifty dollars.
ULTRASAFE: Here, have some chocolate.

DANGEROUS: Should you be eating that?
SAFER: You know, there are a lot of apples left.
SAFEST: Can I get you a glass of wine with that?
ULTRASAFE: Here, have some chocolate.

DANGEROUS: What did you do all day?
SAFER: I hope you didn't overdo it today.
SAFEST: I've always loved you in that robe!
ULTRASAFE: Here, have some more chocolate.

13 Things PMS Stands For:

1. Pass My Shotgun
2. Psychotic Mood Shift
3. Perpetual Munching Spree
4. Puffy Mid-Section
5. People Make me Sick
6. Provide Me with Sweets
7. Pardon My Sobbing
8. Pimples May Surface
9. Pass My Sweatpants
10. Pissy Mood Syndrome
11. Plainly; Men Suck
12. Pack My Stuff....And my favorite one...
13. Potential Murder Suspect

And remember: Money talks...but chocolate sings.

Another thing to giggle about... My husband, not happy with my mood swings, bought me a mood ring the other day so he would be able to monitor my moods.

When I'm in a good mood, it turns green.

When I'm in a bad mood, it leaves a big red mark on his forehead.

Maybe next time he'll buy me diamonds.

http://http://www.moodjewelry.com/

2006-03-04T11:37:00.000-06:00

University of New Mexico Lobos Original logo - inspiration came from a great teacher of my daughter's that is an Alumni.

Garden Rock artwork

2006-02-23T19:10:00.000-06:00

EVERYTHING HAS A GENDER
You may not know this but many nonliving things have a gender.

1) Ziploc Bags are Male,
because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them.

2) Copiers are Female,
because once turned off, it takes a while to warm them up again. It's an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed, but can wreak havoc if the wrong buttons are pushed.

3) A Tire is Male,
because it goes bald and it's often over-inflated.

4) A Hot Air Balloon is Male,
because, to get it to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under it, and of course, there's that hot air part.

5) Sponges are Female,
because they're soft, squeezable and retain water.

6) A Web Page is Female,
because it's always getting hit on.

7) A Subway is Male,
because it uses the same old lines to pick people up.

8) An Hourglass is Female,
because over time, the weight shifts to the bottom.

9) A Hammer is Male,
because it hasn't changed much over the last 5,000 years, but it's handy to have around.

10) A Remote Control is Female. Ha!
You thought it'd be male , didn't you? But consider this - it gives a man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know the right buttons to push, he keeps trying!

2006-02-22T09:07:00.000-06:00

Rocks, rocks, silly rocks

The dragonfly is a reverse attempt to engrave around the object and make it look life like.

For my front yard, we have the Oklahoma State University logo. For a buddy that is a big Gator fan, Florida Gator lawn ornament.

2006-02-18T15:35:00.000-06:00

We have started on some dessert cups with a sea theme. This is the first one with sailboats.

The Merlot and Chardonnay wine is ready so we will be bottling this weekend.

The latest artwork is pictured above. Maranda painted the Happy Birthday theme bottles and I think they look great.

A friend of mine has a thing for roosters, here is a bottle just for her. I think I will have to brush up on my rooster art though.

2006-02-08T11:21:00.000-06:00

The cartoon says "Cut the Crap and show us your Willy"

Ok, so my neighbor Peter had some influence on the art here. Thanks Peter.

Branching out onto cermanic tile with a porcupine hot plate then a glass relish tray with the seal of Texas. Both these projects I consider been there done that. Didn't like the tile, almost drilled a hole in my thigh and hand more than once. yikes

2006-02-08T11:07:00.000-06:00

I like water, fish, sailing and those type of things naturally so I tend to do them as second nature if I am missing some inspiration. A friend suggested I branch out from wine bottles. Good idea. We just happen to have alot of them with the homebrewing husband. The 2nd picture is of a candle glass container. There is a mermaid right under the sailboat.

2006-02-04T21:58:00.000-06:00

Wine bottle etching -
The first two pictures are from the same mural of Greek gods.

2006-01-24T19:04:00.000-06:00

Lion tamer with 3 wild cats. Two pictures to get full effect

2006-01-24T18:59:00.000-06:00

I have been getting inspiration from all kinds of sources. My friend has a black lab named Lucy so I have made a commerative bottle for Lucy.

2006-01-24T18:53:00.000-06:00

My neighbor is expecting their 4th and I decided to make a bottle of a pregnant lady with the baby. On one side you can see the front of baby, then on back side the back side of baby. Its still a work in progess. I hope to put the babies name on this with the date and fill with a special wine to be saved.

2006-01-24T18:44:00.000-06:00

Wine bottle etching with a Dremel is turning into a really fun hobby. I am always needing inspiration though. My friends help inspire these designs

The dolphin design is a maze.
Kathy

2006-01-20T08:30:00.000-06:00

Kathy’s Week

A friend of mine suggested I start a cartoon strip of my life. I thought I would start with a week recap.

Squirrels should die update -
Skinned my first squirrel today all by myself. Got it in the stock pot for 3 hours. Then deboned it with the First offspring. She helped me debone the critter until I told her it was a squirrel, then she looked more intently. We identified bones and stuff. Couldn't get the paws off so had them still on the critter in there too. Oops. Didn’t know to take the heart out so boiled it too. First offspring thought it was fascinating. Who knew? We ground it in the food processor with a little corn meal then made whole wheat squirrel bagels. The dogs go nuts over them.

I am thinking of making a dog toy out of a skin once they are ready. Put a rubber ball inside then sew it up but still have the tail.

Husband called me while taking the kids to school that there was a squirrel hanging upside down eating birdfeeder. Why call instead of shooting it?
I have killed 5, Husband has killed 0. Not that we are competitive in relation to varmit killing,
I guess he thinks killing varmits is woman’s work.

No matter what you do, housework is boring even if you turn music on and wear a gas mask to clean the bathrooms. I miss the housekeeper badly.

2006-01-18T11:17:00.000-06:00

More fun with wine bottles and the Dremel

The first one is of a Tarpon. I love to read Randy Wayne White and just finished Tampa Burn.

The second one is of goddess Alluna. Half woman and half serpent. This one my husband didn't like for some reason.

2006-01-13T15:52:00.000-06:00

More wine bottle artwork - Maranda has been doing the stain glass painting on these.

The first bottle is a picture of 2 hispanic ladies smoking with a bean dip dog. This is made special for Aunt Maria

2006-01-13T15:35:00.000-06:00

Latest hobby
using a dremel to draw on wine bottles for the homebrew.

2005-12-07T12:02:00.000-06:00

Christmas Turkey

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked a stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?"

The stock boy replied, "No ma'am, they're dead."

2005-11-17T09:03:00.000-06:00

Tongue twisters

Randy wondered why Willie really wasn't well.
Sam saw six shiny silver spoons.
Giddy gophers greedily gobble gooey goodies.
Slippery slimy snakes slide slowly.
Six shiny snails sighed sadly.
Pretty Patty Piggy pickles plump pink peppers.
Cheryl say Cher's sheer shawl Sunday.
Six seals slick sick seals.
How much dope could the dope dealer deal if the dope dealer could deal dope?
Sheep shouldn't sleep in shacks.
I slitted a sheet, a sheet i slit now i sit on the sheet i slit.
I wish I had an Irish wrist watch to watch on my Irish wrist.
Stick a sticker where its sticky where a sticker once was stuck.
She sells sea shells by the sea shore
Sure, the ship's ship-shape sir!
Does the wristwatch shop shut soon?

Try saying these 10 times fast...

Caution Golfers Crossing
Sun Shine City
Toy Boat
Unique New York
Mixed Biscuits
Red Leather, Yellow Leather

2005-11-17T08:46:00.000-06:00

Nutkin, A Modern Day Hitler

There can be no doubt that squirrels are the greatest menace ever toface humankind. They make Hitler look like Mary Poppins. Years of in-breeding and civil war have created a race of insane (though cute)rodents, all waiting for the signal to rise up and take over theplanet.However, it would be rash to judge all squirrels on the same level.Just like humans, there are different races of squirrel. It would notbe considered fair to say that the Welsh started World War Two, and soit is with the bushy-tailed ones.

In England (and, indeed, across the British Isles and Europe) there was only one kind of squirrel for many years. The humble red, devoted to a life of eating nuts and hibernating, went about his business forcenturies without fuss or trouble.This all began to change from 1492 onwards. After Columbus landed inthe West Indies, a steady stream of trans-Atlantic traffic led to thedevelopment of trade with North America. It was only a matter of timebefore America's native squirrel, the dreaded gray, hitched a liftacross the pond and landed in post-plague Europe.Once on the continent, the gray began it's quest for globaldomination. First it attacked the red's food supply, then it attackedthe reds themselves, forcing them out of their habitats and takingtheir breeding partners.Bye the mid twentieth century, all but a few of Britain's reds hadbeen eradicated. With their main barrier destroyed, the grays couldbegin to plot their attacks on human kind. Their are parallels withmodern warfare- with air supremacy in place, the Allies could launchthe ground war in the gulf.

With all the west's high-tech weaponry,we may believe we thought of it first, but the squirrels are alwaysone step ahead of us.As you read this, they are amassing an arsenal of weapons to equalanything the US and USSR created at the height of the cold war. Half US defense computer. They will use human\'s own weapons against us!When the signal is given by their leader, known only as SquirrelNutkin, it will already be too late for us to fight back. And to slowany reaction that may be mustered, the grays are currently chewingthrough phone lines and power cables - with no power and nocommunications, the enemy will be able to conquer us in no time atall.So what can we expect once the squirrels are in charge? They will usetheir secret weather machine to make it autumn all year round, thusensuring a constant supply of fallen acorns for them to feed theirarmies. The resulting climate change would destroy masses of naturallife, but they do not care. They are ruthless in their pursuit ofknowledge and power, and will not let a simple thing like nature orthe environment get in the way.

When the squirrels want something,they take it, with no thought for the consequences. Objections anddissent are not permitted - Squirrels who think their leaders aredoing the wrong thing are branded "human huggers" and mocked onsquirrel sites via networked PCs. Oh yes. They have their owninternet. Access for non-squirrels is hard, but I have seen one site.It is called SAHRM (Squirrels Against Human Rights Madness), and features page after page of anti-human propaganda, aimed at advancingthe cause of the squirrel conquest.Those humans that survive the nuclear holocaust caused by the furryblighters will wish they had not. Any people (or other animals) who remain alive will be treated as a lower form of life, be mistreated byyoung squirrels who will keep us as pets, and be used to test newsquirrel cosmetics (even though human anatomy is very different tothat of squirrels).There is no doubt that this conquest must be stopped. "But" you ask", the reason for them biting into wires and cables is to hack into theUS defense computer. They will use human's own weapons against us!When the signal is given by their leader, known only as SquirrelNutkin, it will already be too late for us to fight back. And to slowany reaction that may be mustered, the grays are currently chewingthrough phone lines and power cables - with no power and nocommunications, the enemy will be able to conquer us in no time atall.So what can we expect once the squirrels are in charge? They will usetheir secret weather machine to make it autumn all year round, thusensuring a constant supply of fallen acorns for them to feed theirarmies. The resulting climate change would destroy masses of naturallife, but they do not care.

They are ruthless in their pursuit ofknowledge and power, and will not let a simple thing like nature orthe environment get in the way. When the squirrels want something,they take it, with no thought for the consequences. Objections anddissent are not permitted - Squirrels who think their leaders aredoing the wrong thing are branded "human huggers" and mocked onsquirrel sites via networked PCs. Oh yes. They have their owninternet. Access for non-squirrels is hard, but I have seen one site.It is called SAHRM (Squirrels Against Human Rights Madness), andfeatures page after page of anti-human propaganda, aimed at advancingthe cause of the squirrel conquest.Those humans that survive the nuclear holocaust caused by the furryblighters will wish they had not. Any people (or other animals) whoremain alive will be treated as a lower form of life, be mistreated byyoung squirrels who will keep us as pets, and be used to test newsquirrel cosmetics (even though human anatomy is very different tothat of squirrels).There is no doubt that this conquest must be stopped.

"But" you ask and so well armed?" It will be hard, but there are several possibleplans.The first was created by Nelson Muntz, principal bully on "TheSimpsons". His fourth-grade science project was named "Wasting Squirrels With BB Guns." If all the worlds people were armed with anair gun, they could pick off squirrels one by one. However, this planis fatally flawed. When Nutkin sees what is happening (and we willnever get him - he is hidden in a secret bunker, far from the battlefields where he sends his squirrels into war), he will launch the attack early. Although not fully prepared, the squirrels will havecaused sufficient disruption with their wire-cutting antics to seizepower swiftly.The second plan is to launch an all-out attack on the worlds squirrels with thermo-nuclear and chemical weapons. This would destroy manys quirrels (though the mighty Nutkin would no doubt escape), but wouldalmost certainly destroy the entire human race.Perhaps the best plan is to run a kind of Guerilla Warfare, with smallattacks here and there. By destroying one habitat at a time, bypoisoning one squirrel at a time, by shooting just a few every week,the front-line of squirrel warfare could be eradicated withoutNutkin\'s suspicions being aroused.

There can be no doubt that the squirrels are out to get us. But aslong as we prepare ourselves and know our targets, we should be ableto defeat the furry menace before it is too late.

Thank you for your time.

Alex, Studying for a BA (hons) in Squirrel Warfare (with a bit ofJournalism Studies on the side)Sheffield University, England

2005-11-17T06:50:00.000-06:00

Two Mississippi farmers, Jim and Bob, are sitting at their favoritebar, drinking beer. Jim turns to Bob and says, "You know, I'm tired ofgoing through life without an education. Tomorrow I think I'll go tothe community college and sign up for some classes."Bob thinks it's a good idea, and the two leave.

The next day Jim goes down to the college and meets the dean of admissions,who signs him up for the four basic classes: math, English, history, and logic.

"Logic?" Jim says. "What's that?"

The dean says, "I'll show you. Do you own a weedeater?"

"Yeah."

"Then logically because you own a weedeater, I think that you wouldhave a yard."

"That's true, I do have a yard."

"I'm not done," the dean says.

"Because you have a yard, I think logically that you would have a house."

"Yes, I do have a house."

"And because you have a house, I think that you might logically have a family."

"I have a family."

"I'm not done yet. Because you have a family, then logically you must have a wife."

"Yes, I do have a wife."

"And because you have a wife, then logically you must be a heterosexual."

"I am a heterosexual. That's amazing, you were able to find out allof that because I have a weedeater."

Excited to take the class now, Jim shakes the dean's hand and leavesto go meet Bob at the bar. He tells Bob about his classes, how he issigned up for math, English, history, and logic.

"Logic?" Bob says,

"What's that?"Jim says,

"I'll show you. Do you have a weedeater?"

"No."

"Then you're a queer."

2005-11-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

How about some "ass icons"?

(_!_) a regular ass
(__!__) a fat ass
(!) a tight ass
(_*_) a sore ass
{_!_} a swishy ass
(_o_) an ass hole
(_x_) kiss my ass
(_zzz_) a tired ass
(_E=mc2_) a smart ass
(_$_) Money coming out of his ass
(_?_) Dumb Ass

2005-11-09T09:39:00.000-06:00

25 things to make you feel good about being a man! by Zorga

1. OPENING JARS - she's struggling. You take it from her hands, open it effortlessly and pretend she loosened it for you. She didn't. Jars are men's work.

2. CALLING SOMEONE 'SON' - Especially policeman but even saying it to kids makes you the man.

3. DOING A PROPER SLIDE TACKLE - Beckham free kicks - camp. A Stuart Pearce tackle is the pinnacle of the game, simultaneously winning the ball and crippling the man. Magic.

4. SHARPENING A PENCIL WITH A STANLEY KNIFE - Blunt, is it? Hand it here love. No, I don't need a sharpener, you think I can't whittle.

5. GOING TO THE TIP - A manly act which combines driving, lifting and - as you thrillingly drop your rubbish into another huge pile of other rubbish - noisy destruction.

6. DRINKING UP - Specifically, rising from the table, slinging your coat on and downing two thirds of a pint in one fluid movement. Then nodding towards the door, saying, "Let's go" and striding out while everyone else struggles to catch up with you. You're hard.

7. HAVING A THIN BIT OF WOOD - in the shed, solely to stir paint with.

8. HAVING A SCAR - Ideally it'll be a facial knife wound, but even an iron burn on the wrist is good. "Ooh, did it hurt". "Nah".

9. HAVING A HANGOVER AND THICK STUBBLE - When birds have been partying they just whinge. You on the other hand have physical evidence of your hardness, sprouting from your face. "Big night" Grr, what does it look like.

10. NODDING AT COPPERS - A moments eye contact is all it takes for you to share the unspoken bond. "We've not seen eye to eye in the past", it says, "but someone's got to keep the little scrotes in line".

11. USING POWER TOOLS - slightly more powerful than you need or can safely handle. Pneumatic drilling while smoking a fag? Superb.

12. KICKING A FOOTY AGAINST A GARAGE DOOR - Clang-g-g-g-g-g-! Stitch that becks, I kick so hard I set off car alarms.

13. ARRIVING IN A PUB LATE... and everyone cheers you. It doesn't mean you're popular, it just means your mates are pissed. However, the rest of the pub doesn't know that.

14. NOT WATCHING YOUR WEIGHT - fat is a feminist issue, apparently. Brilliant. Pass the pork scratchings.

15. CARVING THE ROAST - and saying "are you a leg or breast man?" to the blokes and "do you want stuffing?" to the women. Congratulations, you are now your dad.

16. WINKING - turns women to putty. Doesn't it?

17. TEST SWINGING HAMMERS - ideally, B&Q would have little changing rooms with mirrors so you could see how rugged you look with any DIY item. Until then, we'll make do with the aisles.

18. TAKING OUT £200 FROM A CASHPOINT - okay, so its for paying the plumber later but with that much cash you feel like a mafia don. The only thing better is peeling notes off the roll later.

19. PHONE CALLS THAT LAST LESS THAN A MINUTE - unlike birds, we get straight to the point. "Alright? Yep. Drink? Red lion? George, it is then. Seven. See ya."

20. PARALLEL PARKING - bosh, straight in. first time. Can Schumacher do that? No, because his cars got no reverse gear which, technically, makes you the worlds best driver.

21. HAVING EARNED THAT PINT - Since the dawn of time, men have toiled in the fields in blistering heat. Why? So, when it's over we can stand there in silence, surveying our work with one hand resting on the beer gut while the other nurses a foaming jug of ale. Aaaah.

22. HAVING SOMETHING PROPERLY WRONG WITH YOU - especially if you didn't make a fuss. "Why was I off, nothing much, just a brain hemorrhage".

23. KNOWING WHICH SCREWDRIVER IS WHICH - "a Phillips? For that? Are you mad, bint?"

24. TAKING A NEWSPAPER INTO THE LOO - a visual code that says that's right, I'm going in there for a huge, long man-sized dump.

25. CALLING YOUR MATE A %^&* - and punching her on the shoulder. Just a man's way of saying "you're a good mate, I missed you while you were in hospital".

My favorite - making more money for the same job as a woman.

What other ones are missing from this list?

2005-11-08T00:28:00.000-06:00

What Faith Looks Like

Take the first step in faith.

You don't have to see the whole staircase,

just take the first step.

Martin Luther King Jr.

2005-11-07T09:17:00.000-06:00

Where have all the great Cowboys gone?

I was at Oklahoma State when some of the greats were there - Leslie O'neal, Thurman Thomas and of course Barry Sanders.

Leslie Oneal was a first-round draft choice of the San Diego Chargers in 1986. He retired following the 1999 season. During his career, the defensive end was selected to the Pro Bowl six times, while recording 136.0 career sacks. The first summer semester I was at OSU, I got to meet him. He ate in the same cafeteria.

Mark Moore was one of the most feared defensive players, not only in the Big Eight Conference, but around the nation. Moore was a fourth-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 1987. Also, got to meet him at the cafeteria my first summer.

Thurman Thomas was one of the best and still holds 2 records at OSU. He was all-time leading rusher in Oklahoma State football history, and rushed for 4,595 yards and scored 44 touchdowns over his four-year career.
A knee injury prevented Thomas from being a first-round draft choice, but Buffalo stole Thomas with a second round pick in 1988. He was that team's most effective weapon in four straight Super Bowl seasons, and he was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player after the 1991 season. His No. 34 jersey is one of three that have been retired at Oklahoma State. My father-in-law knows his Dad and bowled with him at one point.

Barry Sanders carried for 2,628 yards and recorded four 300-plus yard games during his record-breaking season. His domination of college football that season earned him the Heisman Trophy and helped make the Oklahoma State offense one of the most productive in college football history. Sanders was a first-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions in 1989. The No. 21 jersey Sanders wore as a Cowboy is one of just three numbers retired at Oklahoma State. I met him at the Troy Aikman Charity Golf Tournament a few years ago. The big mystery of why he cut his career short with Detroit Lions remains the big mystery.

It's this time of year when the OU game is coming up that makes me wonder where have all the great Cowboys gone?

Go Pokes!!!

2005-11-05T12:35:00.000-06:00

THE TOP TEN REASONS WHY ALL SQUIRRELS MUST DIE

1. Squirrels are the spawn of Satan.They live mysterious lives in the forests plotting against the rest of the world.

2. Squirrels cause millions dollars of damage to power transformers and lines every year. They are one of the top causes of power outages and damage to very expensive equipment. They seem to be attracted to transformers and fly into them like Kamikaze pilots.

3. Squirrels have killed innocent citizens by causing car wrecks throughout the years.How many times have innocent automobile drivers barely avoided running off the road trying to miss (or to hit) a squirrel taunting them in the middle of the road? Some are not so lucky and wreck due to these furry little beasts.

4. Squirrels do millions of dollars worth of home damage.They are masters of break-ins destroying siding, vents, wires, etc. in the process.

5. Squirrels have no respect for privacy or property rights.They move into attics and will not leave. They are not invited. An attic is not an oak tree, and they know this. They are too lazy to build their own homes so they try to take over someone else's. They move around in the attic at night scaring young kids and women.

6. Squirrels are notorious thieves, stealing food and property from other animals and people.They are the most skilled thieves on the planet. They are despised by birds lovers They steal nuts from bird feeders and fruits from trees. When measures are taken to prevent them from getting the prize, they try that much harder.

7. Squirrels assault people's gardens all over the world causing millions of dollars in crop damage.They get into people's gardens and destroy the vegetables, fruits, and flowers. They rarely even consume them, they just destroy them for the fun of it.

8. Squirrels caused the black death in Europe and currently carry numerous life threatening diseases including rabies and bubonic plague.It is a historic fact that squirrels, as well as their brothers the rats, were one of the carriers of the black plague in the Middle Ages throughout Europe leading to the horrible end of millions.

9. Squirrels are the most reprehensible animals on the planet and will strike any other animal or human they come in contact with.There are countless documented accounts of squirrel assaults. They antagonize people and are formidable foes. It is no accident that squirrels are portrayed in film as they are, insane little creatures that do not think anything of taking on people.

10. Squirrels terminate and castrate other squirrels.Naturalists have discovered an alarming behavior among certain squirrels. A Male squirrel will invade the tree of an enemy squirrel and bite off the nuts of the young in the nest.

Source: http://www.deadsquirrel.com/links.html

2005-11-04T11:50:00.000-06:00

CREATIVE - Wine Labels

My husband is a wine maker. I am a hack with photoshop. Recently his batches are riesling, blush and French Cab. Sav.

The first label was made after the loss of our dear pet Bosco. He was our first baby before kids. There are so many stories, he would need a blog to himself. When I was pregnant with Maranda, she would wake me up kicking and carrying on. She was breach and thus I expected we were going to have accommodation concerns. When she would wake me up kicking, I would get Bosco and put him next to my tummy in the bed. His snoring would comfort and would calm Maranda down every time. He was a dear dog and will be missed.

Flyin Dog Vineyards idea was done with the Dallas skyline in the background since we are Dallasites. Check out the flying pug in the right corner. Bill Blaydes again provided creative direction in suggesting putting a pegasus wings on a pug.

The purple label was a one time use for the soccer coach. The team was called Lucky Charms and had green uniforms thus the reason for the 4 leaf clover theme. There are lots of flying pugs if you click on the picture to zoom in.

The Naked Dave label was created last year by a talented artist, Bill Blaydes. We used it on our different wines last year and it was a humor hit. I hope to be able to come up something this clever in the future.

The nuns having fun theme was done from a Blush perspective. I am sure my Mother would shriek if she saw this but I was going to use a picture of Nuns holding rifles or a pregnant Nun picture. I am sure that Nuns do have fun, maybe frolicking in the ocean is rare but......

The idea is to put all the creative designs for voting next time. I didn't get to creating this until now.